My Guitar Notes

Ebadd9 — Eb added ninth chord

A major triad with the ninth added and no seventh, so the triad is unaltered.

Symbol
Ebadd9
Root
Eb
Quality
Added ninth
Family
added
Notes
Eb F G Bb
Degree formula
1 9 3 5
Semitones from the root
0 2 4 7
Distinct pitch classes
4
Interval structure
Stacked from the root: 2 semitones, 2 semitones, 3 semitones
Notation
Written add9. Frequently used where a plain major triad would sound too bare, and common in pop and fingerstyle arrangements.
Key
Eb · Eb major / C minor key signature

Formula

The chord tones in order from the root, with the interval each one forms above it.

DegreeNoteSemitonesInterval from the root
1Eb0Perfect unison
9F2Major second
3G4Major third
5Bb7Perfect fifth

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.

InversionBass noteDegree in the bassNotes above the bassSemitones above the bass
root positionEb1Eb – F – G – Bb0 2 4 7
first inversionF9F – G – Bb – Eb0 2 5 10
second inversionG3G – Bb – Eb – F0 3 8 10
third inversionBb5Bb – Eb – F – G0 5 7 9

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)NotesDegreesBassSpan (frets)Sounding strings
111-13-13-12-11-13Eb Bb Eb G Bb F1 5 1 3 5 9Eb26
211-8-8-8-8-11Eb F Bb Eb G Eb1 9 5 1 3 1Eb36
311-8-8-10-8-11Eb F Bb F G Eb1 9 5 9 3 1Eb36
411-10-8-10-8-11Eb G Bb F G Eb1 3 5 9 3 1Eb36
511-10-8-10-11-11Eb G Bb F Bb Eb1 3 5 9 5 1Eb36
611-10-13-10-11-11Eb G Eb F Bb Eb1 3 1 9 5 1Eb36

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

Related