How to Play the Cmaj7 Guitar Chord (Every Shape, No Buzzing)

To play a Cmaj7 chord on guitar, mute the low E string, put your ring finger on the 3rd fret of the A string, your middle finger on the 2nd fret of the D string, then leave the G, B, and high E strings open. Strum from the A string down through the high E string. That is the whole shape, and it only asks for two fingers. Everything below covers what makes it ring cleanly, the other voicings you will meet further up the neck, and how it actually differs from a plain C chord.

The Cmaj7 chord, string by string

Here is the full open shape as a table. "Finger" uses standard numbering: 1 is your index finger, 2 is your middle finger, 3 is your ring finger, 4 is your pinky.

If you already know a standard open C chord, this shape is one finger lighter. Form a C chord, then lift your index finger off the 1st fret of the B string entirely and let that string ring open instead. That single change is the whole difference between C and Cmaj7.

Because it uses two fingers instead of three, and drops the ring finger's awkward stretch to nothing extra beyond what plain C already asks for, Cmaj7 is genuinely one of the easier four-note chords a beginner will meet, not a harder cousin of C. If C's stretch has been giving you trouble, this shape is worth practicing on its own terms rather than only as a substitute.

An even easier version, using a single finger

Because Cmaj7's chord tones happen to line up conveniently across the guitar's open strings, you can play a complete Cmaj7, all four notes, with just one fretted note.

Fret only the A string's 3rd fret, then pick the A, G, B, and high E strings, skipping the low E and D strings entirely. That single fretted note supplies the root, C, and the three open strings supply the 5th, the major 7th, and the major 3rd, which is every note the full two-finger shape has, just rearranged. Skipping the D string, which sits in the middle of the strings you are playing rather than off to one side, is easier to manage by picking the four strings individually or with a fingerpicking pattern than by strumming, since a strum naturally wants to catch every string in its path. It sounds thinner than the version with the D string included, since it has one fewer note overall, but it is a genuine, complete Cmaj7, not a simplified stand-in.

This version is worth knowing less as a permanent substitute and more as a fast way to feel what Cmaj7's four notes actually are, one at a time, before combining them into the fuller two-finger shape covered above.

Which strings to strum

Strum the top five strings only, from the 5th string (A) down through the 1st string (high E). Leave the 6th string (low E) out of the strum. The open low E is not one of the four notes in Cmaj7 (C, E, G, and B), so letting it ring adds a low, out-of-key thud underneath the chord.

Two ways to keep it out:

• Aim your downstroke to start on the A string. This takes deliberate practice at first, but it becomes automatic within a few days of paying attention to where your pick or thumb makes first contact.
• Let your ring finger's underside brush the low E. Because your ring finger is already reaching up to the A string for its own note, the outer edge of that same finger often rests close enough to the low E string to mute it lightly on its own, without you doing anything extra.

Test it deliberately. Strum slowly and listen to the very first sound. If you hear a low, dull thump before the rest of the chord rings, the low E string is sneaking into the strum, and it is worth figuring out which of the two habits above needs adjusting before you build speed on top of it.

What actually makes it "maj7"

A Cmaj7 chord is built from four notes: C (the root), E (the major 3rd), G (the perfect 5th), and B (the major 7th). Plain C major uses only the first three of those, C, E, and G. Add the major 7th, the note one half step below the root, and you get Cmaj7's softer, more open sound, often described as dreamy or a little wistful compared to the brighter, more settled sound of plain C.

The "7" in a chord name always refers to some form of the 7th note above the root, but which kind of 7th matters a great deal, and it is the single most common point of confusion for players new to seventh chords:

Seeing "maj7" or "M7" written out is the guitar world's way of being explicit that the 7th is major, not flattened, precisely because a bare "C7" already means something different (the dominant, bluesier chord covered in the table above). If a chart just says "C7", that is not shorthand for Cmaj7, it is a different chord with a different note in it. Written notation for this exact chord also shows up as CM7 or as a triangle symbol, CΔ7, especially in jazz lead sheets. All three mean the identical chord.

Why your Cmaj7 is buzzing or sounds dead

With only two fingers doing the work, there are fewer places for something to go wrong than with a full four-finger chord, but the same handful of causes account for nearly every buzz or muted note. Work through them one at a time.

Your finger is lying flat

If your ring or middle finger lies flat across the fretboard instead of coming down close to vertical, the pad of that finger can brush the neighboring string and deaden it. On this shape specifically, a flattened middle finger often mutes the open G string sitting right next to it, since the fingers are working in a tight cluster on adjacent strings.

Curl your fingers so each one contacts its string near the fingertip rather than the pad. Check your thumb too. A thumb that creeps up over the top of the neck pulls your fingers down flatter to compensate, so keep it roughly behind your middle finger on the back of the neck instead.

You are pressing in the middle of the fret space instead of near the wire

A fret number refers to the space between two metal fret wires, not the wire itself. Pressing right up against the fret wire, on the side closer to the guitar's body, takes noticeably less pressure to produce a clean note than pressing in the middle of that space. If your ring finger sits in the middle of the "3rd fret" space rather than hugging the wire, you will need more force to avoid a buzz and your hand will tire faster over a session.

Not enough downward pressure, especially from the ring finger

Even with good finger arch and good fret placement, a string still needs a minimum amount of downward force before it stops buzzing against the fret ahead of it. The ring finger is usually the weakest and least independent finger for a new player, so it is the one most likely to be under-pressing. Fret the A string's 3rd fret alone, pick that string by itself, and listen. Add pressure gradually until the buzz disappears, then commit that amount of force to memory rather than only holding the shape.

A finger is muting an open string it should be clear of

The three open strings, G, B, and high E, are what give Cmaj7 its lighter, ringing character, so an accidentally muted one changes the sound more than it would on a chord with fewer open strings. Pick the G string on its own while your fingers are in the Cmaj7 shape. It should ring exactly as it does with your fretting hand off the guitar entirely. If it sounds shorter or duller, your middle finger is likely leaning back into it, and adjusting the angle of that finger usually clears it immediately.

The low E string is sneaking into the strum

This one is not a fretting problem at all, it is a strumming habit, and it is covered in full in the strumming section above. If the chord sounds fine when you pick each string individually but muddy when you strum, the low E getting struck is the most likely explanation, not a fretting fault anywhere in your left hand.

The fuller, bass-heavier voicing

The open shape above leaves the low E string muted, but a fuller version brings a low root note into the chord instead of cutting the low end off entirely.

The low E string at the 3rd fret is a G note, which is already one of Cmaj7's four notes, so adding it does not change the chord's identity, it just gives the chord a deeper, more grounded low end. Some players reach the low E with the ring finger barring both the 6th and 5th strings at once, a small two-string mini-barre. Others, especially folk and rock players, hook their thumb over the top of the neck to catch the low E on its own, leaving the ring finger free to handle only the A string as before. Neither is more correct than the other; try both and use whichever one your hand and your guitar's neck width make comfortable.

Cmaj7 further up the neck: the movable barre shape

Once the open version is comfortable, it is worth knowing a movable, full six-string version, built the same way an open E chord becomes a movable barre chord elsewhere on the neck.

Your index finger lays flat across all six strings at the 8th fret, the same role the nut plays on an open E chord, putting the root, C, on the low E string. Your middle finger reaches to the A string's 10th fret, your ring finger to the D string's 9th fret, and your pinky to the G string's 9th fret. The barre alone supplies the B and high E strings, no extra finger needed there.

Because every note in this shape comes from a finger rather than an open string, the whole pattern is movable. Slide it down two frets and you get Bbmaj7. Slide it up one fret and you get C#maj7. The fret your index finger's barre lands on is always the root of whatever maj7 chord you are playing, which makes this shape genuinely useful once you start reading chord charts that call for maj7 chords outside the key of C.

The jazz voicing: Cmaj7 rooted on the A string

Jazz players reach for a different movable Cmaj7 shape more often than either of the two above, one built around the A string instead of the low E string, because it stacks the chord tones in a tighter, smoother-sounding order.

Index finger on the A string's 3rd fret carries the root, C. Ring finger reaches to the D string's 5th fret for G, the 5th. Middle finger sits on the G string's 4th fret for B, the major 7th. Pinky finger stretches to the B string's 5th fret for E, the major 3rd. Both outer strings, low E and high E, stay muted.

This shape is entirely movable too, and it turns up constantly in jazz because of how naturally it connects to the chords around it. The most common example is a ii-V-I progression, Dm7 moving to G7 moving to Cmaj7, where this exact finger pattern shifts smoothly between the three chords with very little hand movement, since each chord shares a similar shape just anchored on a different fret. If you play jazz standards or want to understand why lead sheets keep pairing these three chord types together, this voicing is the one worth learning by feel rather than only the open version.

Cmaj7 with a capo: the same open ring in other keys

The three movable shapes covered above are the standard way to play a maj7 chord in a different key, but they all trade away Cmaj7's open, ringing strings for a barre or a tighter finger cluster. A capo offers a different route: it lets you keep playing the exact two-finger open shape you already know, with all three open strings still ringing, while the capo itself shifts the whole thing to a different pitch.

Clamp a capo across the 2nd fret and play the identical x32000 shape, ring finger and middle finger in the same relative spot, and the chord that rings out is Dmaj7, not Cmaj7, because the capo has raised every open and fretted note by two half steps. This is the reason singer-songwriters who want a maj7 chord's open, airy character in a key like D or F often reach for a capo instead of the compact voicings further up the neck: the capo preserves the exact open-string ring that makes the shape sound the way it does, where a barre-based movable shape cannot.

None of this changes what Cmaj7 itself is, since you are simply moving the same open shape to a different pitch rather than altering the chord's internal fingering. It is worth knowing mainly because so much recorded acoustic and singer-songwriter music built around maj7 chords is actually a capoed version of this exact shape, rather than one of the barre voicings covered earlier.

Cmaj7 vs Cadd9: two different ways to soften a C chord

Cmaj7 and Cadd9 both get reached for when a plain C chord feels too plain, and both keep three of C's fingers close to where they already were, which is exactly why the two get confused with each other constantly. They are not interchangeable, though, because they add a different note.

The distinction is simple once you hear it: Cmaj7 adds a note directly below the root, which is what gives it that slightly suspended, not-quite-finished quality. Cadd9 adds a note above the root instead, a 9th, which brightens and thickens the chord without taking away any of C's original sense of resolution. A song built on Cadd9, such as Oasis's "Wonderwall," still feels like it is landing on a stable chord each time. A song leaning on Cmaj7, such as the two covered later in this article, has a slightly more suspended, held-breath quality by comparison, even though both chords share three of their four notes with plain C.

If you already play both shapes and cannot immediately hear the difference, play C, then Cmaj7, then Cadd9, one after another, slowly, and listen specifically to whether each one feels finished or slightly open-ended. That is the 7th versus the 9th doing its work.

Cmaj7 vs C, C7, and Cm7: how they differ

It is worth seeing all four side by side, since chord charts mix them constantly and a single letter or symbol changes the whole sound.

The distance between Cmaj7 and C7 is a single note, B versus Bb, yet it is the difference between a chord that sits still comfortably and one that actively pulls toward another chord. The distance between Cmaj7 and Cm7 is two notes, the 3rd and the 7th both change, which is why they sound like entirely different families of chord rather than close cousins. If you already know the plain C shape and the C7 shape, comparing all three side by side on your own guitar, one after another, is one of the fastest ways to actually hear what a major 7th does that a flat 7th does not.

Where Cmaj7 sits in a key

In the key of C major, Cmaj7 is the tonic chord extended to a seventh, meaning it is the "home" chord of the key with one extra note added on top. Every major key produces the same pattern of seventh chords when you stack a 7th onto each note of the scale:

Notice that the I and IV chords in any major key both become major 7th chords when extended this way, while the V chord becomes a dominant 7th instead. That pattern holds in every major key, not just C, which is why Fmaj7 sounds like a close relative of Cmaj7 even in a completely different key: they occupy the same role, tonic and subdominant, just built on different roots.

This is also where the classic jazz ii-V-I turnaround comes from: Dm7 (ii7) moving to G7 (V7) resolving to Cmaj7 (Imaj7). It is one of the most repeated chord movements in jazz, and it is worth learning to hear before you learn to play it, since recognizing it by ear makes the shapes above far easier to place correctly when a chart calls for them.

Changing from Cmaj7 to G

G is one of the more natural moves out of Cmaj7, since both chords share territory on the same strings.

Your ring finger lifts off the A string and your middle finger slides down from the D string to the low E string instead, while your pinky reaches for the high E string's 3rd fret. Because Cmaj7 already frees up your index finger entirely, compared to switching out of a full C chord, this change has one less finger to reposition, which usually makes it land slightly faster once you have practiced it a few times slowly.

Changing from Cmaj7 to Am

This is one of the smoothest changes available once Cmaj7 is comfortable, because Am uses the same two strings Cmaj7 already has fingers on, just with a different finger assigned to each.

Your middle finger barely moves, staying on the D string in the same fret the entire time. Your ring finger lifts off the A string and lands on the G string instead, and your index finger adds itself to the B string. Because one finger stays completely anchored, this is a good change to practice first if a Cmaj7-to-something-else transition is giving you trouble elsewhere in a song.

Changing from Cmaj7 to Dm7

This is the move a ii-V-I progression asks for in reverse, going from the I chord back to the ii chord, and it shows up constantly once you start playing anything with jazz or bossa nova influence.

Dm7 in open position uses your index finger flattened slightly across the top two strings at the 1st fret and your middle finger on the G string's 2nd fret. Both of Cmaj7's fingers lift entirely and two new fingers land in a tighter cluster higher up the fretboard. This change asks more of your hand than the move to Am or G, since nothing stays anchored, so it is worth practicing on its own, slowly, before dropping it into a full progression.

Practicing the ii-V-I move on its own

The Dm7, G7, Cmaj7 progression covered earlier is common enough that it is worth drilling as its own short exercise, separate from any song, using open-position chords you likely already know in part.

Play each chord for a full four count, in that order, then loop back to Dm7 and repeat. Notice how the index finger stays busy across all three chords, moving between the top two strings on Dm7, the high E string alone on G7, and off the fretboard entirely on Cmaj7, which is a useful anchor to focus on while the other fingers reposition around it. Once this three-chord loop feels automatic at a slow tempo, it covers the single most common chord movement in jazz guitar, and it transfers directly into the changes covered elsewhere in this article and into any jazz standard built the same way.

Changing from Cmaj7 to F or Fmaj7

F and Fmaj7 both sit a short distance away from Cmaj7 and share its subdominant-adjacent character, since F is the IV chord in the key of C, one step from the tonic.

The mini-barre version of F asks your index finger to bar the top two strings at the 1st fret, with your ring finger moving to the D string and your middle finger to the G string. Fmaj7, by contrast, drops the barre entirely: your ring finger takes the D string's 3rd fret for the root, your index finger takes the G string's 2nd fret, your middle finger takes the B string's 1st fret, and the high E string rings open for the major 7th. That open high E is what makes it a maj7 chord rather than plain F, in the same way lifting a single finger turns C into Cmaj7. If F's barre is still giving you trouble, Fmaj7 is a genuinely easier substitute that keeps the same harmonic role in a progression.

Cmaj7 as a passing chord between C and C7

Beyond standing on its own, Cmaj7 shows up constantly as a stepping stone inside a short chromatic line, most often the move from C to C7 on the way to F. Instead of jumping straight from a plain C chord to its bluesier C7 relative, songwriters and arrangers often insert Cmaj7 in between, so the top note of the chord descends one half step at a time rather than jumping.

Played in sequence, C, Cmaj7, C7, F, that inner voice steps down chromatically, B to Bb to A, while the rest of each chord shifts around it. This is the same idea behind the general descending chromatic line technique that turns up across folk, pop, and jazz songwriting whenever a chord needs to feel like it is walking somewhere rather than jumping. Practicing this exact four-chord sequence slowly, holding each chord for a full bar, is a good way to hear what Cmaj7 contributes on its own, separate from any specific song.

Songs built around Cmaj7

Kansas's "Dust in the Wind" leans on Cmaj7 directly in its intro and verses, moving between C, Cmaj7, Cadd9, and Asus2 in a fingerpicked pattern that makes the small difference between those closely related C shapes easy to hear. Paramore's "The Only Exception" uses a G, Dm, Cmaj7 progression through its verses, often played with a capo, which is a good example of Cmaj7 functioning as the softer, more open-sounding endpoint of a phrase rather than a chord that resolves hard the way plain C would.

Both songs are useful practice targets for a different reason than most beginner chord-progression songs: instead of drilling a fast, clean chord change, they reward holding Cmaj7 steady and letting its open strings ring, since the whole point of the chord in both arrangements is its sustained, unresolved color rather than a quick hand-off to the next shape.

Changing between chords is still the real skill

Every voicing and every chord change covered above eventually comes back to the same point: the Cmaj7 shape itself is not the hard part, especially compared to a full C chord. What takes practice is landing it cleanly at tempo, in the middle of a song, without your hand hesitating or your strum dropping out while your fingers find their spot. Treat each chord change above as its own small drill, done slowly and away from a full strum, before asking it to survive inside a real song at speed.

Playing Cmaj7 fingerstyle instead of strumming

The open Cmaj7 shape works just as well plucked one note at a time as strummed, and its three open strings make it a natural chord to fingerpick, since three of its four notes require no attention from your right hand at all beyond plucking the right string.

A simple pattern: thumb plays the A string, then index, middle, and ring pluck the D, G, and B strings in order, then let the high E ring as part of the chord's overall color rather than a note in the pattern itself. This is close to the pattern Kansas uses under "Dust in the Wind," which is part of why that song is such a common practice target for this exact chord.

Practice the pattern slowly, well under tempo, and say each finger's name out loud as it plays until the sequence stops needing conscious thought. Once it does, try letting the notes ring into each other slightly rather than cutting each one off cleanly, which is where Cmaj7's open, sustained character really comes through.

Does Cmaj7 feel different on a nylon-string guitar?

Yes, in two ways that pull in opposite directions. Nylon strings sit under much lower tension than steel strings, so once your ring and middle fingers are correctly placed, less force is needed to stop either note from buzzing, which is a real advantage while your fingertips are still building calluses. Classical and nylon-string guitars also tend to have noticeably wider necks than steel-string acoustics, which gives the three open strings more room to ring clearly without a neighboring finger brushing them by accident, the exact muting problem covered earlier in this article.

The trade-off is that same wider neck asks for a slightly bigger stretch between your ring finger and middle finger to cover the same two frets, which can work against players with smaller hands even as it helps everyone avoid accidental muting. The shape, the fingers, and the frets are identical either way. Only the physical spacing changes, and it is worth expecting that difference rather than assuming something is wrong with your technique if a nylon-string neck feels wider under your hand than a steel-string one did.

Warm-ups that make the movable shapes easier

The open Cmaj7 shape needs very little from your hand, but the two movable voicings further up the neck ask for real finger independence, especially the jazz-style shape's stretch across four different frets and strings at once. A minute of warm-up before working on those shapes pays for itself.

• Finger walk. Rest all four fingertips on the low E string, one fret apart starting at the 1st fret, and press each one down in order, index through pinky, then release them in the same order. Repeat this on each string. It wakes up finger independence, which the jazz voicing's spread-out fingering depends on directly.
• Ring and pinky isolation. The movable barre shape and the jazz voicing both ask your ring and pinky fingers to work independently of each other on neighboring strings, which does not come naturally to most new players. Press your ring finger down alone, release it, then press your pinky down alone, release it, and repeat five times without letting the other fingers join in.
• Open and close. Make a loose fist with your fretting hand, then spread your fingers as wide as comfortable, five times. This general hand warm-up, borrowed from typing and other repetitive-motion routines, loosens the tendons that the wider stretches in this article rely on.

None of this needs more than a minute or two, and it is worth doing before any session that focuses on the shapes further up the neck specifically, since those are the versions of this chord most likely to feel stiff on a cold hand.

Common mistakes beyond buzzing

A handful of habits show up again and again with this chord specifically, separate from the fretting issues covered earlier.

Leaving the index finger down out of habit

If you already know a plain C chord well, your index finger may land on the 1st fret of the B string out of pure muscle memory, turning your Cmaj7 back into plain C without you noticing. Check the B string specifically. It should ring open. If it does not, your index finger has crept back onto the fretboard.

Confusing "maj7" with a plain "7"

As covered earlier, C7 and Cmaj7 are different chords built from different notes, not two ways of writing the same thing. If a chart calls for one and you play the other, the chord will sound wrong even though every finger placement felt confident. When in doubt, check whether the chart says "maj7," "M7," or a triangle symbol, all of which mean this chord, versus a bare "7," which means the bluesier dominant version instead.

Strumming too hard and burying the open strings

Because three of Cmaj7's four notes come from open strings, an aggressive strum can drown their subtler ring under the two fretted notes. This chord tends to sit better with a slightly lighter touch than a full, four-finger barre chord would need, letting the open strings actually contribute their sound instead of being overpowered.

Miscounting the fret on a movable shape

Both movable voicings covered earlier are only correct if your index finger lands on the right fret, and it is easy to be off by one when counting up an unfamiliar part of the neck. Count from the nut, not from an inlay marker you assume is a certain fret, and double check against a known reference point, such as the 12th fret, which on almost every guitar has a distinct double-dot marker. Landing a fret off turns Cmaj7 into a different maj7 chord entirely, one that will sound merely "wrong" rather than obviously broken, which makes the mistake harder to catch by ear alone than an outright buzz.

Treating it as a lesser version of C rather than its own chord

Cmaj7 is a genuinely different chord from C, not a simplified stand-in for players who cannot yet manage the full stretch. It has its own sound, its own role in a key, and its own place in real songs, several of which are covered above. Learning it as its own chord, rather than only as an easier substitute, means you will reach for it on purpose when a progression calls for its specific character.

A practice routine for today

Fifteen focused minutes is enough to make real progress on this chord, in keeping with the idea behind practicing guitar in short daily sessions rather than occasional long ones.

1. Two minutes: form the Cmaj7 shape from nothing, five separate times, resetting your hand fully between each one. Check the shape first, the sound second.
2. Three minutes: strum the chord slowly, five strings only, and pick the G string on its own if anything sounds muted, using the troubleshooting section above to diagnose it.
3. Five minutes: practice one chord change, Cmaj7 to Am first since it is the smoothest, or Cmaj7 to G once Am feels solid. Change on a slow, steady four-count, no strumming in between, just the new shape landing cleanly on the beat.
4. Five minutes: if you already know a plain C chord, alternate between C and Cmaj7 on every other beat, lifting and replacing only your index finger each time. This single-finger drill builds the exact habit that keeps the two chords from blurring into each other later.

Repeat this most days rather than saving it for one long weekly session. A shape this size is built through frequent, short repetition, since your hand is learning a physical position, not memorizing a fact.

FAQ

What notes are in a Cmaj7 chord? C, E, G, and B. C is the root, E is the major 3rd, G is the perfect 5th, and B is the major 7th, the note that gives the chord its distinctive open, slightly unresolved character compared to plain C major.

Is Cmaj7 harder or easier than a plain C chord? Easier, in most cases. The open Cmaj7 shape uses only two fingers and skips the ring finger's stretch to the same degree a full C chord still needs, since the fingering for the two notes it keeps is identical to C's. New players sometimes learn Cmaj7 as a stepping stone toward the full C shape for exactly this reason.

What is the difference between Cmaj7 and C7? One note. Cmaj7 uses B, the major 7th, while C7 uses Bb, the flat or minor 7th. That single half-step difference is also the difference between a soft, settled-sounding chord and a bluesy, unresolved one that wants to move somewhere else.

Can I use Cmaj7 instead of a plain C chord in a song? Often, yes, especially in acoustic, pop, and jazz-influenced songs where the extra warmth of the major 7th fits the mood. It changes the character of the chord, though, so it is worth listening for whether the song wants that softer, more open color or the brighter, more resolved sound of plain C before swapping one for the other.

Why is it written "Cmaj7" instead of just "C7"? Because "C7" already refers to a different chord, the dominant 7th version with a flattened 7th note. Writing "maj7," "M7," or the triangle symbol used in some jazz notation makes it explicit that the 7th is major, not flattened, so the two chords are never confused on a chart.

Do I need to mute the low E string on every voicing? Only on the standard open shape. The fuller, bass-heavier version deliberately brings the low E string in at the 3rd fret, since that note, G, is already one of Cmaj7's four chord tones and does not clash with the rest of the shape.

What is a ii-V-I progression, and why does it keep coming up with this chord? It is a three-chord movement, built from the ii, V, and I chords of a key, that resolves strongly to the tonic. In the key of C, that is Dm7 moving to G7 resolving to Cmaj7. It is one of the most common chord movements in jazz, which is why the jazz-style voicing covered earlier in this article is built to connect smoothly with the chords on either side of it.

Is Cmaj7 the same as C major 7th, CM7, or CΔ7? Yes. All four are different ways of writing the identical chord: C, E, G, and B. Chord charts and lead sheets vary in which notation they use, but none of them represent a different chord from the others.