Am69 guitar chord
Root, third and seventh: the guide tones fix the quality, so the fifth is dropped. That is what leaves a string free, so pick a tension to put on top.
- Tap a note to hear it
- Arrows change position
- Fingers, notes or intervals
- Play the chord
About Am69 — shell voicings
Am69 is A, C, E, F# and B — Am6 with the ninth added as well.
It sounds cool and entirely at rest. No seventh, so nothing leans: a common last chord of a minor tune.
Am69 notes and formula
| A | C | E | F# | B |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ♭3 | 5 | 6 | 9 |
Minor tonic — nothing in it is pulling.
Also written Am6/9, Amin6/9 or A-6/9. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play Am69
Root, third and seventh. The third and seventh, the guide tones, are what make the chord major, minor or dominant, so the fifth can go: it says nothing the symbol needs.
Three notes means a spare string, which is the real point. Put a tension on it.
Am69 has 3 of them, on the bottom four strings, the top four strings and the middle four strings, from the 3rd fret up to the 10th — all in one inversion, so the bass note never moves. The one to learn first is the A shape at the 3rd fret, which is the easiest grip here.
Start with x04500 — no barre and 3 open strings. 1 of the 10 shapes here sits in open position. 6 of the 10 need a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 3rd fret to the 12th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| x04500 | open position | A, root position | E | 3 open strings |
| 5344xx | 3rd fret | A, root position | B | all fretted |
| x34455 | 3rd fret | C, 1st inversion | A | all fretted |
| 5x4557 | 4th fret | A, root position | B | barred |
| 5x7577 | 5th fret | A, root position | B | barred |
| xx7577 | 5th fret | A, root position | B | barred |
| x77577 | 5th fret | E, 2nd inversion | B | barred |
| 807977 | 7th fret | C, 1st inversion | B | barred |
| 877977 | 7th fret | C, 1st inversion | B | barred |
| x-12-10-11-12-x | 10th fret | A, root position | B | all fretted |
The same notes rebuilt from scratch give 12 drop 2, 9 drop 3, 12 rootless and 6 open string voicings, each on its own page.
Tensions. A shell of Am69, root, third and seventh, leaves a string free, and the tones that belong over it are the 11 (D).
How to use Am69
How you get to it. The turn that lands on Am69 is Bm7♭5 to E7♭9: the ii and the V of A minor, which is where a minor tonic is usually arrived at rather than simply begun on.
In which keys. Every note of Am69 belongs to E minor (the iv, the subdominant) and G major (the ii, the supertonic).
What to play over Am69
Every note of Am69 is in A dorian and A melodic minor.
Chords near Am69
Change one note of Am69 and you have Am6 (drop the ninth), Am9 (the sixth becomes a flat seventh), AmMaj9 (the sixth becomes a major seventh), Amadd9 (drop the sixth), A69 (the minor third becomes a major third) or Am/F# (drop the ninth).
Am69 is a minor chord — root, minor third, fifth. Minor chords on every root.
On Am69’s sound and use this page follows Mark Levine, The Jazz Piano Book (Sher Music, 1989). The shapes and the derived voicings come from different places, and both are explained in where the chords and the theory come from.