C6 Chord on Ukulele
C6 = C – E – G – A (Root, Major 3rd, Perfect 5th, Major 6th)
A chord is the same notes however you stack them, and which one sits at the bottom changes how it sounds. The chord builder puts each of C6's notes in the bass in turn, names the result, and plays it.
Hear every inversion of C6 →C6 is the one ukulele chord that needs no fingers at all: strum the G, C, E, and A strings completely open, and the result is already a complete C6 chord. That's not a coincidence of easy voicing — it's a direct consequence of the tuning itself, since the four open pitches G, C, E, and A are precisely the four notes that make up a C major triad plus its sixth. No other common chord on the ukulele is spelled entirely by its open strings.
A sixth chord adds the sixth scale degree to a major triad, producing a warm, slightly jazzy color softer than a seventh chord's sharper tension — sixth chords were a favorite voicing in swing-era and early jazz-influenced popular song, genres the ukulele has deep historical ties to. C6 can substitute for a plain C major chord almost anywhere, adding gentle harmonic color without disrupting the song's function, and because GCEA tuning happens to spell it exactly, it's a strong candidate for ending a song on — an open, resonant final chord that needs no fretting-hand movement at all. It's worth noting this open-string identity is unique to the key of C: the same six-chord color built on other roots requires real fretting, which is part of why C6 in particular gets singled out in ukulele method books as a neat bit of tuning trivia.
Fingerings
Open Position
How to Practice It
There's no fingering to practice here, so the useful exercise is ear training: strum the open strings and consciously listen for the sixth's color against a plain C major triad, then compare it to C major fretted with the ring finger's usual third-fret A-string note — noticing how removing that fretted note and simply letting the A string ring open changes the chord from C major into C6. It's also worth using C6 deliberately as a resolution chord at the end of a simple strummed song, since it's the rare moment where the ukulele's open, unfretted ring can be the entire final chord.
Common Progressions
- I – I6 alternation, moving from plain C to the fully open C6 for color (C – C6)
- I6 – IV – V – I (C6 – F – G – C)
- vi – IV – I6 (Am – F – C6), landing the progression on the open voicing
- A closing C6 is a common way to end a simple strummed arrangement.
FAQ
- Why does C6 need no fingers on ukulele?
- Because the open G, C, E, and A strings already spell exactly the four notes of a C6 chord — root, third, fifth, and sixth — a direct result of how GCEA reentrant tuning happens to line up with that particular chord.
- Is this a coincidence unique to C6, or does it happen with other chords too?
- It's essentially unique to C6 among common chord types — no other major, minor, or seventh chord built on any root is spelled entirely by the open GCEA strings.
- What does the added sixth do to C major's sound?
- It softens and warms the chord, a gentler color than a seventh's sharper tension, closely associated with swing-era and early jazz-influenced popular song styles the ukulele has strong historical ties to.
- Can C6 be used as an ending chord?
- Yes, and it's a favorite choice for exactly that — an open, fully resonant final chord requiring no fretting-hand movement, which suits a simple strummed arrangement's closing moment well.
- Does any other common ukulele key get this same open-string trick?
- Not with a plain sixth chord in the same tidy way — the GCEA open strings are specifically G, C, E, and A, which spell C6 exactly; transposing the same chord type to another root requires real fretting, since no other root's sixth chord matches those four particular open pitches.
- Is C6 ever confused with A minor 7 on ukulele?
- The two chords share every one of their notes, since C6 and Am7 are enharmonic equivalents built from the identical four pitches viewed from different roots — which one you call it depends entirely on which note the surrounding harmony treats as the bass or functional root.
- Should a total beginner learn C6 as an early chord, given how easy it is?
- It's worth knowing early simply because it costs nothing extra to learn — since it's identical to strumming completely open strings, the real lesson isn't a new finger shape but understanding why this particular chord happens to require none at all.
C6 on other instruments: C6 on Guitar, C6 on Piano. Related: how chords are built, chord finder.