F#m9(maj7) — F# minor ninth major seventh chord
A minor major seventh chord with the ninth added. The ninth and the major seventh are a semitone apart, which is what gives the chord its density.
- 1 = F#
- b3 = A
- 5 = C#
- 7 = E#
- 9 = G#
- Symbol
- F#m9(maj7)
- Root
- F#
- Quality
- Minor ninth major seventh
- Family
- extended
- Notes
- F# A C# E# G#
- Degree formula
1 b3 5 7 9- Semitones from the root
0 2 3 7 11- Distinct pitch classes
- 5
- Interval structure
- Stacked from the root: 3 semitones, 4 semitones, 4 semitones, 3 semitones
- Notation
- Written m9(maj7). Common on the tonic of a minor key in modern jazz.
- Key
- F# · F# major / D# 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 | F# | 0 | Perfect unison |
| b3 | A | 3 | Minor third |
| 5 | C# | 7 | Perfect fifth |
| 7 | E# | 11 | Major seventh |
| 9 | G# | 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 | F# | 1 | F# – A – C# – E# – G# | 0 3 7 11 2 |
| first inversion | A | b3 | A – C# – E# – G# – F# | 0 4 8 11 9 |
| second inversion | C# | 5 | C# – E# – G# – F# – A | 0 4 7 5 8 |
| third inversion | E# | 7 | E# – G# – F# – A – C# | 0 3 1 4 8 |
| fourth inversion | G# | 9 | G# – F# – A – C# – E# | 0 10 1 5 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) | Notes | Degrees | Bass | Span (frets) | Sounding strings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2-4-3-2-2-4 | F# C# F A C# G# | 1 5 7 b3 5 9 | F# | 2 | 6 |
| 2 | 2-0-3-1-2-1 | F# A F G# C# F | 1 b3 7 9 5 7 | F# | 3 | 6 |
| 3 | 2-0-3-1-2-2 | F# A F G# C# F# | 1 b3 7 9 5 1 | F# | 3 | 6 |
| 4 | 14-11-11-14-14-13 | F# G# C# A C# F | 1 9 5 b3 5 7 | F# | 3 | 6 |
| 5 | 14-12-11-13-14-13 | F# A C# G# C# F | 1 b3 5 9 5 7 | F# | 3 | 6 |
| 6 | 14-12-15-13-14-13 | F# A F G# C# F | 1 b3 7 9 5 7 | F# | 3 | 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 F#
- ScaleF# melodic minor (ascending)
- ChordF#m9
- ChordF#m
- ChordF#m7
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