Aadd9 guitar chord
A close-position chord with the second voice from the top lowered an octave. Sits on four adjacent strings.
- Tap a note to hear it
- Arrows change position
- Fingers, notes or intervals
- Play the chord
About Aadd9 — drop 2 voicings
Aadd9 is A, C#, E and B — A with the ninth added, and no seventh.
It sounds bright and ringing. No seventh at all: that is what “add” means, and it is why this sounds open where a maj9 sounds lush.
Tonic — a triad with one colour on it.
Aadd9 notes and formula
| A | C# | E | B |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 5 | 9 |
Also written A(add9), Aadd2 or A add nine. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play Aadd9
Take the four notes stacked as close together as they go, then drop the second voice from the top an octave. The gap it opens is what makes the chord sound like a chord rather than a cluster.
It lands on four adjacent strings, which is why it is the workhorse voicing on guitar.
Aadd9 has 13 of them, on the middle four strings, the top four strings and the bottom four strings, from the 2nd fret up to the 14th — every inversion the chord has: A in the bass, C# in the bass, E in the bass and B in the bass. The one to learn first is the B shape at the 2nd fret, which is the easiest grip here.
5 of them sit on the middle four strings, so you can run the inversions up one set without changing strings — which is the whole reason to learn them as a family rather than as separate grips.
All 5 common shapes as fret numbers, lowest string first. Hover or tap one to see it drawn.
- x02420, open position, A, root position, top note E, 2 open strings
- 54x455, 4th fret, A, root position, top note A, barred
- xx76x7, 6th fret, A, root position, top note B, all fretted
- x-12-11-9-12-9, 9th fret, A, root position, top note C#, all fretted
- x-12-11-x-12-12, 11th fret, A, root position, top note E, barred
How to use Aadd9
How you get to it. The turn that lands on Aadd9 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 Aadd9 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 Aadd9
Every note of Aadd9 is in A major pentatonic, A major, A lydian, A mixolydian and A lydian dominant.
Chords near Aadd9
Change one note of Aadd9 and you have A (drop the ninth), Asus2 (drop the major third), Asus2sus4 (the major third becomes the fourth), Amaj7 (the ninth becomes the major seventh), Amaj9 (add the major seventh) or Amadd9 (the major third becomes the minor third).
Aadd9 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.