Minor 9th Chords (m9) - Guitar Diagrams and Voicing Charts

How to Build Minor 9th Chords?

A minor 9th chord is a chord having a root (1), a minor third (b3), a perfect fifth (5), a minor 7th (b7) and a major 9th (9). It can be seen as a dominant 9th chord with a minor third or a minor seventh chord with a ninth added.

Minor ninth chords can be played in place of basic minor chords when you want to spice you minor voicings up a little bit.

C Minor 9th chord C Eb G B D
Formula 1 b3 5 b7 9 (2)

 

Notation Symbol

Minor 9th chords are generally marked with a m9 or -9.  Example with Cm9 or C-9.

Minor 9 Basic Chord Positions (No Fifth)

Here are three basic minor 9 guitar chord to learn before moving on minor 9 drop 2 voicings below. These positions have no fifth.

Min9 chords guitar

Rootless Voicings

Leaving the roots out 

This following focuses on rootless drop 2 minor 9th chord positions. Because it is not always possible or easy to include all chord tones when you play 9th chords, you have to leave some chord tones out. As it is the case here, the root is ommited.

Please note that it is important to locate the root even if it is not played. This will help you find more easily the chord position on the guitar neck and as well as its name.

The construction of minor 9th chords can be based on drop 2 minor 7th chords. It's quite easy, you just have to replace the root with the ninth. Here are two guitar diagrams that show the relation between these two chords.

Min9 vs min7 chords

Drop 2 minor 9th Guitar Chord Charts (Rootless) 

Here are twelve minor 9 chord shapes based on minor 7 drop 2 voicings . As you can see the chords have no root notes and can have a ninth, minor third, fifth or minor seventh in the bass. These positions can be veru useful for chord / melody arrangement.

minor 9th Root position 9 5 b7 b3
1st inversion b3 b7 9 5
2nd inversion 5 9 b3 b7
3rd inversion b7 b3 5 9
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Last edited: 2023-04-02

Comments

  • Matt
    • 1. Matt On 2022-10-13
    b3 of C is Eb, not E

    C Minor 9th chord C E G B D
    Formula 1 b3 5 b7 9 (2)
    • jazz-guitar-licks
      • jazz-guitar-licksOn 2023-04-02
      Corrected thanks !
  • Andrew Peters
    • 2. Andrew Peters On 2022-01-20
    i am looking at passing chords

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