C/B Chord on Guitar

1,008 guitar chords with several shapes each, finger numbers, difficulty and real sound, in any tuning.

C/B means “C with B in the bass”: play a C major chord and make B the lowest note. B is not one of the chord’s own notes, so the bass adds colour as well as moving the bass line.

The notes, low to high, are B, C, E, G. The library above opens on C/B with 14 shapes that keep B at the bottom; tap one to hear it.

Notes in C/B

Note	Degree	Interval from C	Semitones
B	bass	major seventh (below)	11
C	1	root	0
E	3	major third	4
G	5	perfect fifth	7

Formula: 1 – 3 – 5. On guitar the 5th is often left out of the bigger shapes without changing the chord.

How to play C/B

Open positionBeginnerx22010

E-shape barre at fret 5Easy77555x

Fret 8Easyxx9988

Fret 12Easyx(14)(14)(12)(13)x

Open positionEasyxxx410

Fret 2Easyx25500

Open position (bass on the 5th string), step by step

1st finger (index): 2nd string, 1st fret (C, the root).
2nd finger (middle): 5th string, 2nd fret (B, the bass).
3rd finger (ring): 4th string, 2nd fret (E, the major third).
Let the 3rd string, 1st string ring open (G, E).
Strum from the 5th string, and keep the 6th string quiet.

How C/B is used

B is the major seventh of C, so the full set of notes is Cmaj7/B (major seventh with B in the bass). Writing it as C/B tells you to keep the C shape and just change the bass.

In C major, C – C/B – Am walks the bass down step by step (C, B, A) while the chords on top change. Played the other way, Am – C/B – C, the bass climbs.

When a chord sheet writes C/B, play the chord on top and let B be the lowest string you strum; if you play with a bass player, the bass plays B.