A69 guitar chord
The standard grips this chord is usually shown with.
- Tap a note to hear it
- Arrows change position
- Fingers, notes or intervals
- Play the chord
About A69 — 2nd inversion
A69 is A, C#, E, F# and B — A6 with the ninth added as well.
It sounds wide and entirely at rest. The modern way to voice a tonic when a triad is too bare and a maj7 too pointed.
Tonic — it commits to nothing.
A69 notes and formula
| A | C# | E | F# | B |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 9 |
Also written A6/9, A6add9 or A six nine. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play A69
A69 in 2nd inversion puts E in the bass instead of A, the 5th of the chord. The notes are the same; what changes is what the bass line does, which is most of why you would reach for it — it lets the lowest voice move by step where the root would have jumped.
One of A69’s 8 common shapes does this:x77677
Play A69 as a shell — root, third and seventh — and the spare string takes the #11 (D#).
All 8 common shapes as fret numbers, lowest string first. Hover or tap one to see it drawn.
- x22222, 2nd fret, B, 9th in the bass, top note F#, barred
- x04422, open position, A, root position, top note F#, 1 open string
- 544455, 4th fret, A, root position, top note A, barred
- xx7677, 6th fret, A, root position, top note B, barred
- x77677, 6th fret, E, 2nd inversion, top note B, barred
- x-9-9-9-10-9, 9th fret, F#, 6th in the bass, top note C#, barred
- x-12-9-11-10-9, 9th fret, A, root position, top note C#, all fretted
- x-12-11-11-12-12, 11th fret, A, root position, top note E, barred
How to use A69
How you get to it. The turn that lands on A69 is Bm7 to E7 — the ii and the V of A — and E7 shares its third and seventh with Bm7, so the hand barely moves between them.
In which keys. Every note of A69 belongs to C# minor (the ♭VI), D major (the V), E major (the IV), F# minor (the ♭III), A major (the I) and B minor (the ♭VII).
What to play over A69
A69 is every note of the A major pentatonic, and nothing else. It also sits inside A major, A lydian, A mixolydian and A lydian dominant.
Chords near A69
Change one note of A69 and you have Amaj9 (the sixth becomes the major seventh), Amaj13 (add the major seventh), Am69 (the major third becomes the minor third), Aadd9 (drop the sixth), A6 (drop the ninth) or A9 (the sixth becomes the flat seventh).
A69 is a major chord — root, major third, fifth. Major chords on every root.
The common shapes and the derived voicings come from different places, and both are explained in how this site is built.