Cm(add9) — C minor added ninth chord
A minor triad with the ninth added and no seventh. The triad stays minor; only the colour above it changes.
- 1 = C
- b3 = Eb
- 5 = G
- 9 = D
- Symbol
- Cm(add9)
- Root
- C
- Quality
- Minor added ninth
- Family
- added
- Notes
- C Eb G D
- Degree formula
1 b3 5 9- Semitones from the root
0 2 3 7- Distinct pitch classes
- 4
- Interval structure
- Stacked from the root: 3 semitones, 4 semitones, 7 semitones
- Notation
- Written m(add9) or madd9. Used where a plain minor triad sounds bare, especially in fingerstyle and pop.
- Key
- C · C major / A minor key signature
Formula
The chord tones in order from the root, with the interval each one forms above it.
| Degree | Note | Semitones | Interval from the root |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | C | 0 | Perfect unison |
| b3 | Eb | 3 | Minor third |
| 5 | G | 7 | Perfect fifth |
| 9 | D | 2 | Major second |
Inversions
An inversion is the same set of notes with a different one in the bass. The last column gives the distance of each note above the bass note, in semitones.
| Inversion | Bass note | Degree in the bass | Notes above the bass | Semitones above the bass |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| root position | C | 1 | C – Eb – G – D | 0 3 7 2 |
| first inversion | Eb | b3 | Eb – G – D – C | 0 4 11 9 |
| second inversion | G | 5 | G – D – C – Eb | 0 7 5 8 |
| third inversion | D | 9 | D – C – Eb – G | 0 10 1 5 |
Playable voicings
These shapes were found by searching the fretboard of a standard-tuned guitar (E A D G B E) rather than copied from a chord book. The search allows every string to sound or to be muted, rejects any shape with a muted string between two sounding strings, rejects any shape whose fretted notes span more than four frets (a five-fret window), requires every chord tone to be present, and then sorts what remains with root-position shapes first and the most compact, lowest shapes next. The shapes shown are the first six of that ordering; other orderings are possible at the same frets.
| # | Shape (low string first) | Notes | Degrees | Bass | Span (frets) | Sounding strings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 8-10-10-8-8-10 | C G C D# G D | 1 5 1 b3 5 9 | C | 2 | 6 |
| 2 | 8-5-5-8-8-8 | C D G D# G C | 1 9 5 b3 5 1 | C | 3 | 6 |
| 3 | 8-6-5-7-8-8 | C D# G D G C | 1 b3 5 9 5 1 | C | 3 | 6 |
| 4 | 8-5-5-5-4-8 | C D G C D# C | 1 9 5 1 b3 1 | C | 4 | 6 |
| 5 | 8-5-5-7-4-8 | C D G D D# C | 1 9 5 9 b3 1 | C | 4 | 6 |
| 6 | 8-5-5-8-4-8 | C D G D# D# C | 1 9 5 b3 b3 1 | C | 4 | 6 |
Shape numbers run from the lowest string to the highest, so the left-hand number is the sixth string (low E) in standard tuning. Multiple shapes are listed because a chord can be voiced several ways, and because a lower position is not always the better sounding one.
Related chords and scales
- KeyEverything in C
- ScaleC natural minor
- ScaleCadd9
- ChordCm
- ChordCm7
Related
- KeyKey of C
- ScaleC natural minor
- ChordCadd9 — Added ninth
- ChordCm — Minor
- ChordCm7 — Minor seventh
- ChordC6 — Sixth
- ChordC6/9 — Sixth added ninth
- ChordCm6 — Minor sixth