Cm6 Chord on Guitar
Cm6 = C – D# – G – A (Root, Minor 3rd, Perfect 5th, Major 6th)
Cm6 takes the darker minor triad and brightens one corner of it with a major sixth on top — a combination that shouldn't sound as smooth as it does, given how directly it mixes minor and major colors, but which has become one of jazz's most reliable minor-key voicings. It's built at the eighth fret as an E-shape barre, sharing its hand position with the rest of the C-rooted chords clustered at that same fret.
The notes are C, D#, G, and A — root, minor third, fifth, major sixth — and that major sixth is the detail worth noticing: unlike a plain minor seventh chord, which flattens the seventh degree, m6 chords keep the sixth degree natural, borrowing from the Dorian mode rather than the plain natural minor scale. That borrowed brightness is exactly what gives m6 chords their characteristic jazzy, slightly unresolved quality — they read as minor but carry a little more lift than a plain minor triad or minor seventh chord would.
Fingerings
Barre (8th fret)
How to Practice It
This voicing needs the same barre-plus-two-fretted-notes coordination as the C6 major chord one entry over, so practicing them back to back is a good way to feel exactly how the single altered note (minor third instead of major) changes both the fingering and the sound. Listening carefully for that major sixth against the minor third is worth doing deliberately — it's an interval combination (minor third plus major sixth over the same root) that doesn't come up in plain triads or dominant chords, so training the ear to recognize it specifically pays off across every m6 chord on the neck.
Common Progressions
- Cm6 – G7 – Cm (i6 – V7 – i, a classic minor-jazz cadence)
- Cm – Cm6 – Cm7 – Cm6 (a chromatic descent through the minor 6th/7th family)
- Fm6 – Cm6 – G7 (iv6 – i6 – V7 in C minor)
- Cm6 – Ab – Fm – G7 (i6 – VI – iv – V7)
FAQ
- Why is the sixth in Cm6 a major sixth rather than a minor sixth?
- Minor sixth chords are built by convention with a major sixth degree, borrowing it from the Dorian mode rather than the natural minor scale, and that borrowed brightness is exactly what gives m6 chords their distinctive jazzy lift compared to a plain minor triad.
- How does Cm6 differ from Cm7?
- They both add a sixth chord tone to the minor triad, but m6 adds a major sixth above the root while m7 adds a flat seventh — different scale degrees entirely — giving m6 a brighter, Dorian-tinged color and m7 a smoother, more conventionally minor-jazz sound.
- Why is Cm6 associated with jazz specifically?
- Its combination of a dark minor third with a bright major sixth creates exactly the kind of harmonic ambiguity jazz composers favor, and it's a standard voicing in minor-key jazz cadences, often substituting for a plain minor tonic chord right before a dominant resolves.
- Does Cm6 share fingering logic with C6?
- Yes — both use the same barre-plus-two-independent-fingers template, differing only in whether the third finger frets a major or minor third, which makes practicing the two chords together a useful way to isolate exactly what that one altered note changes.
- What scale is Cm6 drawn from?
- It draws its sixth from C Dorian rather than C natural minor, since natural minor's sixth degree is flat and wouldn't produce this chord's characteristic bright top note — that borrowing from Dorian is common practice for m6 chords generally, not unique to C.
- Is Cm6 ever used as a substitute for a diminished chord?
- Yes — because of a quirk of interval stacking, an m6 chord shares three of its four notes with a diminished seventh chord built on its sixth degree, so jazz players sometimes use the two interchangeably for passing harmonic color, particularly in walking bass lines.
- How common is Cm6 outside of jazz?
- It's rarer in rock and pop, where plain minor triads or minor seventh chords are the more typical default, but it does appear in more harmonically adventurous singer-songwriter and film-score writing that wants a minor chord's darkness with a touch of unresolved brightness layered on top.
Cm6 on other instruments: Cm6 on Piano. Related: how chords are built, chord finder.