G#add9 — G# added ninth chord
A major triad with the ninth added and no seventh, so the triad is unaltered.
- 1 = G#
- 9 = A#
- 3 = B#
- 5 = D#
- Symbol
- G#add9
- Root
- G#
- Quality
- Added ninth
- Family
- added
- Notes
- G# A# B# D#
- 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
- G# · Ab major / F minor key signature
Fingering charts
The library holds 3 fingerings of this chord and all of them are shown, in the library’s own order. Several fingerings of one chord is normal: the same notes can be stopped at different positions and on different strings.
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 | G# | 0 | Perfect unison |
| 9 | A# | 2 | Major second |
| 3 | B# | 4 | Major third |
| 5 | D# | 7 | Perfect 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.
| Inversion | Bass note | Degree in the bass | Notes above the bass | Semitones above the bass |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| root position | G# | 1 | G# – A# – B# – D# | 0 2 4 7 |
| first inversion | A# | 9 | A# – B# – D# – G# | 0 2 5 10 |
| second inversion | B# | 3 | B# – D# – G# – A# | 0 3 8 10 |
| third inversion | D# | 5 | D# – G# – A# – B# | 0 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) | Notes | Degrees | Bass | Span (frets) | Sounding strings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4-6-6-5-4-6 | G# D# G# C D# A# | 1 5 1 3 5 9 | G# | 2 | 6 |
| 2 | 4-1-1-1-1-4 | G# A# D# G# C G# | 1 9 5 1 3 1 | G# | 3 | 6 |
| 3 | 4-1-1-3-1-4 | G# A# D# A# C G# | 1 9 5 9 3 1 | G# | 3 | 6 |
| 4 | 4-3-1-3-1-4 | G# C D# A# C G# | 1 3 5 9 3 1 | G# | 3 | 6 |
| 5 | 4-3-1-3-4-4 | G# C D# A# D# G# | 1 3 5 9 5 1 | G# | 3 | 6 |
| 6 | 4-3-6-3-4-4 | G# C G# A# D# G# | 1 3 1 9 5 1 | G# | 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 G#
- ScaleG# major
Related
- ChordG#6 — Sixth
- ChordG#6/9 — Sixth added ninth
- ChordG#m6 — Minor sixth
- DegreesAb — degree map
- Neck mapAb — note map
- KeyKey of Ab
- ScaleAb aeolian
- ScaleAb blues scale