Am9 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 Am9 — shell voicings
Am9 is A, C, E, G and B — Am7 with the ninth stacked above it.
It sounds warm, and considerably richer than an m7. The standard voicing for a ii chord once the plain one has been played enough.
Am9 notes and formula
| A | C | E | G | B |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ♭3 | 5 | ♭7 | 9 |
Pre-dominant or minor tonic — an m7’s job with more colour.
Also written Amin9, A-9 or A minor 9. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play Am9
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.
Am9 has 3 of them, on the bottom four strings, the middle four strings and the top 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 x02413 — no barre and 1 open string. 1 of the 9 shapes here sits in open position. 4 of the 9 need a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 1st fret to the 12th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| x22213 | 1st fret | B, 9th in the bass | G | barred |
| x02413 | open position | A, root position | G | 1 open string |
| xx2413 | 1st fret | E, 2nd inversion | G | all fretted |
| 53x453 | 3rd fret | A, root position | G | all fretted |
| x35455 | 3rd fret | C, 1st inversion | A | barred |
| 575557 | 5th fret | A, root position | B | barred |
| 809080 | 8th fret | C, 1st inversion | G | 3 open strings |
| 8-10-9-9-10-8 | 8th fret | C, 1st inversion | C | all fretted |
| x-12-10-12-12-x | 10th fret | A, root position | B | barred |
The same notes rebuilt from scratch give 12 drop 2, 9 drop 3, 14 rootless and 6 open string voicings, each on its own page.
Tensions. A shell of Am9, root, third and seventh, leaves a string free, and the tones that belong over it are the 11 (D) and the 13 (F#).
How to use Am9
How you get to it. The turn that lands on Am9 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 Am9 belongs to C major (the vi, the submediant), E minor (the iv, the subdominant), G major (the ii, the supertonic) and A minor (the i, the tonic).
What to play over Am9
Every note of Am9 is in A dorian and A natural minor.
Chords near Am9
Change one note of Am9 and you have Am69 (the flat seventh becomes a sixth), Am7 (drop the ninth), Am11 (add the fourth), AmMaj9 (the flat seventh becomes a major seventh), Amadd9 (drop the flat seventh) or A9 (the minor third becomes a major third).
Am9 is a minor chord — root, minor third, fifth. Minor chords on every root.
On Am9’s sound and use this page follows Mark Levine, The Jazz Theory Book (Sher Music, 1995). The shapes and the derived voicings come from different places, and both are explained in where the chords and the theory come from.