C#7 Guitar Chord: Every Way to Play C Sharp Dominant 7

The most practical way to play C#7 is a small barre at the 4th fret: mute the low E string, lay your index finger across the A, G and high E strings at the 4th fret, then press your ring finger on the 6th fret of the D string and your pinky on the 6th fret of the B string. Strum the five thinnest strings. There is no open-position version of this chord, but a capo at the 4th fret lets you play the same notes with just two fingers and no barre at all, and that trick, along with the full six-string barre version and a compact rootless voicing, is everything below.

What Notes Make Up C#7

C#7 is a dominant seventh chord built from four notes: C#, E# (the same pitch as F, spelled as E# to keep the interval math consistent), G# and B. That is a C# major triad (C#, E#, G#) with a flattened seventh, B, stacked on top. The "seventh" in the chord's name refers to that B, the note a minor seventh above the root.

This is different from plain C# major, which uses only the three triad notes and has no pull toward resolving anywhere. Adding the B is what gives C#7 its restless character. A major chord on its own sounds settled. Stack a flattened seventh on top and the chord leans forward, wanting to move somewhere else, which is exactly the pull a blues turnaround or a jazz progression needs right before it resolves.

Looked at as intervals rather than note names, C#7 is built the same way as every dominant seventh chord on the instrument:

Here is what the main shape in this post actually plays, string by string:

All four chord tones are present, with the fifth doubled across two strings. That doubling is part of why the chord sounds full even though only three fingers are doing the fretting.

The Easiest Way to Play C#7

C#7 does not have a genuine open-position shape the way C7 does, because C7 borrows its shape from the open C chord and C#7 sits a semitone above it, out of reach of any open string. The closest thing to an easy version is a small barre at the 4th fret, built from the same shape guitarists use to play B7 at the 2nd fret or D7 at the 5th fret, just moved to sit under C#.

The index finger lies flat across the A, G and high E strings at the 4th fret, while the ring finger reaches two frets higher on the D string and the pinky reaches two frets higher on the B string. It is a partial barre rather than a full six-string one, since the low E string is muted and out of the way, which makes it considerably less demanding than the full barre version further down this post.

Mute the low E string by resting the underside of your index finger against it, or simply start your strum from the A string. Strum only the five thinnest strings. This shape rewards a light touch more than brute force. The barre only has to hold down three strings, not six, so most of the effort should come from the ring and pinky fingers pressing cleanly into their own frets rather than the index finger clamping harder than it needs to.

The Full Six-String Barre Version

For a fuller, louder sound, or when a song needs C#7 to carry the same weight as the barre chords around it, use the E7-shape barre at the 9th fret. This is the version that gives you all six strings and puts C#7's root on the low E string, which some players find easier to anchor by ear.

The index finger does two jobs here: it frets the low E, D, B and high E strings all at the same fret, and it acts as a movable nut for the rest of the shape. The middle finger sits on the G string one fret above the barre, and the ring finger sits on the A string two frets above it. This is the same relationship the open E7 chord has between its two fretted notes, just barred and moved up nine frets.

Strum all six strings. If any of them sound muted or buzzing, that is covered in detail further down rather than something to push through by strumming harder. Sitting at the 9th fret also puts this shape in a compact, close-together part of the neck, which some players find speaks more clearly than the lower, more spread-out 4th-fret version.

The Capo Trick That Skips the Barre Entirely

If the barre is the real obstacle and not the chord itself, a capo removes it completely. Clip a capo on the 4th fret and play an ordinary open A7 shape behind it. Every string sounds four semitones higher than it would without the capo, and A raised by four semitones is C#. The open A7 shape becomes C#7 without a single finger forming a barre.

With the capo doing the work of the barre, your left hand only places two fingers: index finger on the D string, two frets above the capo, and middle finger on the B string, two frets above the capo. The A, G and high E strings all ring open behind the capo. This is not a compromise version of C#7, it is the identical set of notes produced by moving the work from your fretting hand to the capo.

The same logic works with other open dominant seventh shapes, if you already know them. An open B7 shape with a capo on the 2nd fret produces C#7 as well, and an open C7 shape with a capo on the 1st fret does too, since a capo transposes whatever shape you play behind it by however many frets it covers.

The C7-shape option needs the least capo travel if you already have a capo sitting near the nut for another song, but it asks for four fretted notes instead of two. The A7-shape version is the most practical for most players, since it uses only two fingers and leaves three strings ringing open. Placing a capo correctly, right behind the fret rather than on top of it, matters more with this trick than with an ordinary open chord, since a capo seated poorly mutes or buzzes exactly the open strings this shape depends on. The capo chart is worth a look if you want the same logic applied to other chords beyond this one.

A Rootless, Compact Voicing

Jazz and blues rhythm playing rarely calls for a full six-string barre, since a bassist is usually already covering the root and the low end. A smaller voicing that leans on the third and seventh does more harmonic work per string than a full barre chord does, and it is simply faster to grab mid-song.

This is the same fingering as the easiest shape above, just with the A string dropped out entirely, root and all. What is left is the fifth, seventh, third and fifth again, spread across the top four strings. Dropping the root sounds like it should weaken the chord, but in a band context it usually does the opposite, since the ear still hears C#7 as long as a bass note is sounding underneath, and the compact voicing cuts through a mix more clearly than a wide, low, root-heavy chord does. Practicing alone, without a bass player, this voicing can sound a little unmoored, which is normal and not a sign you have played it wrong.

Why C#7 Is Not Ringing Clean

Test each string one at a time after forming whichever shape you are working on. A chord that sounds fine strummed fast can still have a dead string hiding in the mix. Work through these one cause at a time.

The barre is not pressing evenly across all three strings

On the easiest 4th-fret shape, the index finger has to press the A, G and high E strings with even pressure while the D and B strings, fretted separately, are left alone in between. It is common for the barre finger to press hard on the outer two strings and lightly on the middle one, since the middle string sits in the natural dip of a flattened finger. Roll your index finger slightly onto its outer edge rather than laying it completely flat. That thinner edge presses more evenly across the strings it touches with less overall effort.

The ring or pinky finger is leaning into the barre finger's strings

The ring finger on the D string and the pinky on the B string sit close to the barre, and it is easy for either one to lean sideways and lightly touch the string next to it, muting a note that would otherwise ring clean. Come down on each fingertip as close to straight up and down as your hand allows, and check the D and B strings individually by picking them alone.

Your thumb is riding too high on the neck

If your thumb creeps up over the top of the fretboard, the barre finger loses its counter-pressure and has to do all the clamping alone, which is exactly when the A string or high E string tends to buzz first. Bring the thumb down to the back of the neck, roughly opposite your middle finger, and press forward as if you were trying to bring your thumb and index finger together through the neck.

The low E string is bleeding through on the easy shape

The 4th-fret shape is built specifically to leave the low E string out, and a string that rings when it should not sounds like the chord is muddy or slightly wrong even though nothing is technically buzzing. Rest the underside of your index finger lightly against the low E string, or simply start your downstroke from the A string instead of the low E.

You are pressing at the wrong point in the fret

A finger placed near the middle of the fret space, or worse, right on top of the fret wire, needs far more pressure to ring cleanly than one placed just behind the fret, because the string has more room to vibrate against the fret ahead of it before it buzzes. Slide the whole shape slightly toward the guitar's body until every finger sits right up against its fret.

The full six-string barre buzzes on the middle strings

On the 9th-fret version, the D and G strings are the ones most likely to buzz, since they sit directly under the middle finger and the barre while the middle finger needs to hold its own note firmly and the barre needs to clamp everything else underneath it. Check that your middle finger is arched enough that its knuckle is not accidentally resting against the barre finger's strings.

The guitar itself is working against you

High action, old strings, or a neck that needs a truss rod adjustment can make any fretted chord harder than it should be, independent of your technique. If open chords ring clean but every version of C#7 still buzzes no matter how carefully you place your fingers, the instrument is worth having checked.

Your guitar has drifted out of tune

Any chord with several fretted notes at once makes tuning problems more obvious than a chord with open strings ringing alongside them, since there is no unfretted reference note to mask a small discrepancy.

Before spending time troubleshooting a shape that will not ring clean, check the guitar against a tuner in this order, low E to high E. It takes a few seconds, and it rules out the one cause on this whole list that has nothing to do with your hand at all.

Getting the Barre Technique Right

Both barred versions of C#7 live or die on three things that have nothing to do with finger strength, and getting them right early saves weeks of frustration.

Wrist and hand position

Keep your wrist reasonably straight rather than bent sharply toward the floor. A bent wrist reduces the force your fingers can generate and tires the forearm faster. Bring your fretting arm slightly forward and let your elbow drop, rather than pulling your hand back at an angle to reach the neck. Your palm should not be flush against the back of the neck either. A small gap between your palm and the wood gives your fingers room to arch and your thumb room to press independently against the barre finger.

Standing with the guitar on a strap tends to change all of this compared to sitting, since the neck angle is usually lower and further from the body, which pulls the wrist into a more awkward bend if the strap length has not been adjusted for it. If either barre version of C#7 felt fine sitting down but suddenly buzzes constantly once you stand up, check the strap length and neck angle before assuming your technique has gotten worse.

Building the strength to hold it

Barre strength comes from time under the shape, not from a single trick. Hold the 4th-fret partial barre for ten to fifteen seconds at a time, release, shake your hand out, and repeat for a few minutes a day, then do the same with the full six-string version once the smaller one feels comfortable. Strumming through a song is good practice too, but holding the static shape isolates the exact muscles a barre chord uses without the distraction of timing or a strum pattern.

Progress is not linear. Most players notice a real jump in barre strength after two to four weeks of daily practice, then a slower, steadier improvement after that. A day where the chord feels harder than it did yesterday is normal, not a sign anything is wrong.

C#7 vs Db7: Same Chord, Different Name

C# and Db are the same pitch, so C#7 and Db7 are the same chord played with the exact same fingers in the exact same place. Which name shows up on a chart usually depends on the key signature of the song, sharps or flats, rather than anything about the chord itself. A song written with sharps in its key signature is more likely to label this chord C#7, while a song written with flats is more likely to call it Db7. Every shape in this post answers to both names.

C#7 vs C#m7 vs Cmaj7 vs C7: Avoiding Confusion

These four chords share either a root or a name, and it is easy to reach for the wrong one on a chart if you are reading quickly.

The practical difference between C#7 and C#m7 shows up the moment you play them back to back. Both share the same root, fifth and seventh, but C#7's major third gives it a bright, unresolved pull, while C#m7's minor third makes it sit darker and more settled. If a chart says C#7 and the chord you are playing sounds moody rather than restless, double check you have not accidentally landed on C#m7 instead.

C7 and C#7 are easy to mix up on a page since the names differ by a single character, but every shape in this post shifts down exactly one fret if a chart actually calls for C7 rather than C#7.

C#maj7 causes a different kind of confusion, since "maj7" and a plain "7" look similar enough at a glance to misread mid-song. C#7 and C#maj7 share a root and a fifth, but the seventh itself is a different distance from the root in each: C#7's B is a minor seventh, while C#maj7's B# (the same pitch as C) is a major seventh, only a half step below the root instead of a whole step. That half step is what gives C#maj7 its smooth, unresolved-but-comfortable character, closer to a held breath than the sharp inhale of a dominant seventh. If a chart says C#maj7 and the chord you are playing sounds urgent and blues-tinged rather than warm and floating, you have likely reached for C#7 by mistake.

Small Hands and the C#7 Shapes

The full six-string barre at the 9th fret asks the most of a smaller hand, since the ring finger needs to reach two frets past the barre while the index finger holds firm underneath it. Unlike some barre chords, C#7 does not have a genuinely barre-free shape near the open position, since there is no open string a semitone below C# to build one from.

The capo trick covered earlier is the real answer if a smaller hand is the obstacle rather than the chord itself. Clipping a capo on the 4th fret and playing the open A7 shape behind it produces the exact same notes as the barred version, using only two fingers and no barre at all. The rootless voicing on the top four strings is a smaller reach as well, even though it still uses the same partial-barre technique as the easiest shape.

If barre chords in general still feel out of reach and you want to build toward them anyway, three adjustments help more than brute force: bring your thumb further down the back of the neck rather than centering it under your palm, angle your wrist slightly outward away from the neck, and get the barre finger as close to the fret wire as it can go without sitting on top of it. Hand size is rarely the real ceiling. Finger independence and grip strength, built through repetition, usually matter more than the physical span between fingers.

Where C#7 Comes From: The Key of F# and the Dominant Function

C#7 rarely shows up as a chord chosen at random. It is the V7, the dominant seventh, of F# major and F# minor, and it shows up constantly in any song built around either key.

A dominant seventh chord's whole character comes from the tension between its third and its flattened seventh, a pair of notes a tritone apart that both want to resolve inward toward the notes of the chord that follows. In C#7, that pair is E# and B. When C#7 moves to F#, the E# resolves up a half step to F#, and the B resolves down a half step to A#, the third of the F# chord. That pull is not a stylistic choice, it is built into the physics of the interval, which is why C#7 to F# or C#7 to F#m feels so inevitable once you hear it happen.

This is also why C#7 turns up in songs that are not otherwise built entirely from sharps. A song in B major, for instance, can borrow C#7 for a single bar as a secondary dominant, briefly tonicizing F# before returning to B, a common move in pop, folk and jazz songwriting that gives an otherwise diatonic progression a moment of extra pull.

Two generic progressions cover a lot of the ground C#7 actually gets used for, and both are worth running through on their own before hunting for a specific song that uses them.

Changing Into and Out of C#7

The shape itself stops being the hard part once your hand knows it. What actually trips people up is the half second between chords, and there is no shortcut around it besides slow, deliberate repetition.

F# to C#7: F# major is usually played as a barre chord itself, either the E-shape barre at the 2nd fret or the A-shape barre at the 9th fret, so moving to C#7 is mostly about repositioning the same barre technique rather than learning a new one. The E-shape F# at the 2nd fret sits reasonably close to C#7's easiest 4th-fret shape, a short slide rather than a big jump.

G#m to C#7: this is the classic ii-V movement in the key of F#, and it turns up constantly in jazz and pop progressions that resolve to F# or F#maj7. G#m played as an Em-shape barre lands on the exact same fret, the 4th, as C#7's easiest shape. The barre finger barely has to move. Only the strings carrying the extra fretted notes change, from the A and D strings in G#m to the D and B strings in C#7.

B to C#7: this pairing shows up whenever a progression in B major borrows C#7 as a secondary dominant leading toward F#. B played as an A-shape barre at the 2nd fret and C#7's easiest A7-shape at the 4th fret use the same barre technique two frets apart, so the change is a slide up the neck rather than a new shape.

F#m to C#7: common in F# minor progressions where the dominant is borrowed from the harmonic minor scale to create a stronger pull back to the tonic. F#m played as an Em-shape barre at the 2nd fret sits close to C#7's 4th-fret shape, though the shape itself changes from a minor barre to a dominant one, which is worth practicing slowly on its own before adding it to a full progression.

Practice moving between only two chords at a time before trying a full progression. Play each pair slowly with a metronome, staying on each chord for a full four beats before switching, and only speed up once the change happens without you having to look at your hand.

C#7 in a 12-Bar Blues

A standard 12-bar blues in the key of F# uses C#7 as its V chord, arriving in bar 9 to set up the turnaround back to the tonic.

This is the same I-IV-V structure that underlies blues in any key, just built from F# rather than the more commonly taught E or A. C#7 is the V chord here in the same role B7 plays in a blues built from E, or E7 plays in a blues built from A, which makes practicing this progression genuinely useful beyond the key of F# itself, since the same shape and the same function transfer directly once you move the whole progression to a different starting chord.

Bar 9 is worth singling out, since it is the moment the turnaround begins in earnest. After eight bars of alternating F#7 and B7, the ear has settled into expecting the tonic. C#7 arriving in bar 9 breaks that expectation on purpose, pulling the progression up to its dominant right when it feels most resolved, before bars 11 and 12 bring it back home.

A single bar of C#7 followed by a bar of F#7 is also a common way to end a verse or signal that a song is about to repeat, worth practicing as a two-chord phrase by itself for exactly that reason.

C#7 in a ii-V-I Jazz Turnaround

Jazz harmony leans on a three-chord movement so often that it has its own shorthand: ii-V-I. The ii chord is minor, the V chord is dominant, and the I chord is where everything resolves, usually a major seventh in jazz rather than a plain major triad. In the key of F#, that turnaround is G#m7, C#7, F#maj7.

Notice how little movement it takes to get from one chord to the next. G#m7's flattened seventh, F#, drops a single half step into C#7's major third, E# (F), while G#m7's B stays exactly where it is and becomes C#7's own flattened seventh. The same pattern repeats moving into F#maj7: C#7's B drops a half step into F#maj7's third, A#, while C#7's E# holds still and becomes F#maj7's major seventh. Every voice in the progression moves by a half step or stays put rather than leaping around the neck, which is exactly what makes ii-V-I progressions so central to jazz comping. The chords are built so the hand barely has to travel even though the harmony is doing a lot of work.

Played on guitar with C#7's easiest 4th-fret shape sitting between a nearby G#m barre and an F#maj7 shape close by, this turnaround is a genuinely useful thing to loop on its own, slowly, well before trying to find it inside an actual jazz standard. Once the shapes are comfortable, the same ii-V-I pattern transposes directly to any key by sliding all three shapes the same distance up or down the neck, which is a large part of why it is worth learning in the first place.

C#7 in a Descending Fifths Turnaround

Dominant seventh chords have a habit of chaining together, each one resolving into the next chord down a perfect fifth, which is itself another dominant seventh setting up its own resolution. This is called the circle of fifths, and a run of chords built entirely from it is one of the oldest tricks in both ragtime and jazz rhythm playing.

Each chord's root is a perfect fifth above the next chord's root, and each one's minor seventh sits a half step above the third of the chord that follows it, which is what gives the whole sequence its constant, rolling forward pull. C#7 sitting at the top of a run like this is common in turnarounds that want to build tension across several bars rather than resolve immediately, arriving at C#7 from further around the circle and stepping down through F#7 and B7 before landing.

Practicing this kind of run is less about C#7 specifically and more about training your hand to move between several dominant seventh barre shapes in sequence, since the same finger pattern repeats at each new fret. Once the 4th-fret C#7 shape and the barre technique behind it feel automatic, sliding that same shape down to F#7, B7 and beyond is mostly a matter of repetition rather than learning anything new.

C#7sus4 and C#7#9: Variations You'll See Written

C#7sus4 replaces the major third with a perfect fourth, F# instead of E#, which removes the tension between third and seventh that makes plain C#7 feel unresolved and replaces it with a more open, suspended sound.

Starting from the easiest 4th-fret C#7 shape, C#7sus4 is one small move away: slide the pinky on the B string up one fret, from the 6th fret to the 7th, while everything else stays exactly where it is.

Players often move between C#7sus4 and C#7 as a single rhythmic figure, sliding that one finger down to resolve the sus4 back into the plain dominant chord, a common enough move in folk and rock rhythm playing that it is worth practicing as a pair rather than two unrelated shapes.

C#7#9, sometimes called the "Hendrix chord" for how often it turns up in rock and funk rhythm parts, stacks a sharped ninth, E natural, on top of the basic C#7 shape, sitting directly against the E# major third already in the chord. That clash between the major third and the sharped ninth, a half step apart, is exactly what gives the chord its aggressive, bluesy edge, and it is worth recognizing on a chart even before you have the higher-neck voicings needed to play it comfortably.

Fingerpicking C#7

Both barred versions of C#7 work just as well fingerstyle as they do strummed, since every fretted note is already in place. A fingerpicking pattern only chooses the order the strings are plucked in.

For the easiest 4th-fret shape, a simple starting pattern uses the thumb on the A string, then the index, middle and ring fingers on the D, G and B strings in turn: thumb, index, middle, ring, middle, index, repeated. Because the A string carries the root in this shape, the thumb is always landing on a genuine chord tone rather than a string you would otherwise mute.

For the full barre version, keep the thumb on the low E string instead, since that carries the root there, and let the index, middle and ring fingers cover the D, G and B strings while the barre finger continues to hold the high E string note underneath them. A pattern that alternates the thumb between the low E and A strings while the fingers stay on top gives the arpeggio more rhythmic movement in the bass and is closer to what a fingerstyle arrangement of a real song is likely to ask for.

Playing C#7 fingerstyle is also a quieter, lower-pressure way to check your barre technique, since a slow arpeggio gives you time to hear each string ring individually without the volume of a strum covering up a weak note.

Scales to Solo Over C#7

C#7's dominant character comes from its major third and flattened seventh, and the scale that matches that sound most directly is C# Mixolydian, the major scale with its seventh flattened by a half step.

Every note in C# Mixolydian except the flattened seventh is shared with C# major, which makes the scale a natural first choice once C# major or C# major pentatonic already feels familiar under your fingers. The b7 is the note that actually matches the chord and gives a solo its dominant, bluesy pull, so leaning on it, rather than avoiding it, is what makes a line sound like it belongs over C#7 specifically rather than over C# major.

For a simpler, more forgiving option that leans harder into the blues side of this chord, the C# blues scale swaps out most of the Mixolydian's passing tones for a compact five-note shape plus one added blue note.

The b3 sitting against C#7's major third, E# in the chord, E in the scale, is exactly the kind of clash that gives blues soloing its characteristic bite, and it is one of the more forgiving scales for a newer player, since nearly every note in it lands somewhere musical against a dominant seventh chord, unlike scales built for major or minor chords specifically.

Common Mistakes Beyond Buzzing

Squeezing far harder than necessary is the most common one, especially once either barred version starts ringing clean. More pressure past that point does nothing but tire your hand out faster, which makes the next chord change slower rather than more accurate.

A second common mistake is resetting the whole hand shape from scratch on every repetition instead of keeping fingers anchored where they can be and only adjusting what actually needs to move, particularly when switching between the 4th-fret shape and the full barre version of the same chord.

A third is rushing straight to full-speed strumming before any of the shapes are reliable at a slow tempo, which just practices the buzz instead of curing it. A fourth shows up once the chord itself is solid: holding the shape rigidly between strums instead of relaxing slightly the moment the strum passes. Some tension needs to stay to keep the strings pressed down, but a hand that never releases any tension between strums fatigues far faster over a whole song than one that finds a small amount of release between beats.

A fifth mistake is practicing C#7 only in isolation and never in the actual musical context it will be used in. A chord that appears for one bar in a 12-bar blues turnaround asks something different of your hand, and your timing, than the same chord held for four beats in a slower ballad, and only practicing the static shape will not expose that difference until it shows up mid-song.

A Practice Routine for C#7

Start with the easiest 4th-fret shape. Form it, hold it for ten seconds, check each of the five strummed strings individually by picking it alone, release, and repeat five times. This builds the finger independence the shape needs without any full-barre fatigue getting in the way.

Once that shape is reliable, strum a slow, even four-beat pattern on C#7 by itself for a minute, listening for any string that drops out. Then move to the full six-string barre version and repeat the same process, holding the shape, checking each string, and strumming slowly before adding speed.

Next, pair C#7 with one other chord. F# is the most useful starting point, since C#7 resolves to it constantly in real progressions. Practice switching between the two on a metronome at a slow, comfortable tempo, four beats per chord, then drop to two beats per chord, then to one, only increasing speed once the change is clean at the slower tempo.

Finish by trying the change in the context of a real progression, a 12-bar blues in F# or the G#m to C#7 to F#maj7 jazz turnaround, since a chord that works fine in isolation sometimes falls apart the moment a song's timing gets added back in.

Fifteen minutes of this, done consistently, moves this chord from effortful to automatic faster than an hour done once a week, which is really the whole case for practicing in short daily sessions rather than saving it all up for the weekend.

Frequently Asked Questions

What notes make up C#7?

C#7 is built from C#, E#, G# and B, a C# major triad with a flattened seventh, B, stacked on top. E# is the same pitch as F.

Is there an easy version of C#7 that does not need a barre?

Not near the open position, since there is no open string a semitone below C# to build a shape from. The closest thing to easy is a small partial barre at the 4th fret, and a capo at the 4th fret playing an open A7 shape behind it removes the barre entirely.

Is C#7 the same as Db7?

Yes. C# and Db are the same pitch, so C#7 and Db7 are the same chord played with the exact same fingers in the exact same place. Which name appears on a chart depends on whether the song's key uses sharps or flats.

What is the difference between C#7 and C7?

They are different chords a semitone apart. C#7 is built from C#, E#, G# and B, while C7 is built from C, E, G and Bb. Every C#7 shape in this post moves down one fret to become C7.

Why does C#7 show up so often with F# or F#m?

C#7 is the dominant seventh, the V7 chord, of both F# major and F# minor. Its third and seventh sit a half step away from notes in the F# chord, which creates a strong pull toward resolving there, and that pull is why the two chords appear together constantly.

Can I use a capo to avoid the barre in C#7 entirely?

Yes. Clip a capo on the 4th fret and play an open A7 shape behind it, index finger on the D string two frets past the capo and middle finger on the B string two frets past the capo. It produces the identical notes as the barred version without a barre.

What is C#7sus4?

C#7sus4 replaces C#7's major third with a perfect fourth, giving the notes C#, F#, G# and B. From the easiest 4th-fret C#7 shape, it is one small move: slide the pinky on the B string up from the 6th fret to the 7th.

What scale should I use to solo over C#7?

C# Mixolydian, the C# major scale with its seventh flattened, matches the chord's own notes most closely. For a bluesier sound, the C# blues scale, C#, E, F#, G, G#, B, is more forgiving for a newer player and leans into the tension a dominant seventh chord is built for.