Amadd9 guitar chord
The third voice from the top lowered an octave. The dropped voice becomes the bass, which is why a string is skipped.
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About Amadd9 — drop 3 voicings
Amadd9 is A, C, E and B — Am with the ninth added, and no seventh.
It sounds sharp-edged. The ninth grinding a whole step under the minor third is the edge an m9 softens.
Amadd9 notes and formula
| A | C | E | B |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ♭3 | 5 | 9 |
Minor tonic — a triad with one colour on it.
Also written Am(add9), Amin(add9) or A-add9. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play Amadd9
The same operation one voice further down: the third voice from the top falls an octave and becomes the bass.
That leaves a bigger hole under the top three notes, so a string gets skipped: the muted string in the middle is the shape, not a mistake.
Amadd9 has 9 of them, on strings 5-3-2-1 and strings 6-4-3-2, from open position up to the 12th — 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 nut.
5 of them sit on strings 5-3-2-1, 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.
Start with x02410 — no barre and 2 open strings. 1 of the 9 shapes here sits in open position. 2 of the 9 need a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 1st fret to the 15th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| x02410 | open position | A, root position | E | 2 open strings |
| 53x45x | 3rd fret | A, root position | E | all fretted |
| 577557 | 5th fret | A, root position | B | barred |
| xx7557 | 5th fret | A, root position | B | all fretted |
| xx7908 | 7th fret | A, root position | C | 1 open string |
| x-x-10-9-10-7 | 7th fret | C, 1st inversion | B | all fretted |
| x-12-10-9-12-x | 9th fret | A, root position | B | all fretted |
| x-12-10-x-12-12 | 10th fret | A, root position | E | barred |
| x-15-14-14-12-x | 12th fret | C, 1st inversion | B | all fretted |
The same notes rebuilt from scratch give 13 drop 2 and 6 open string voicings, each on its own page.
How to use Amadd9
How you get to it. The turn that lands on Amadd9 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 Amadd9 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 Amadd9
Every note of Amadd9 is in A dorian, A natural minor, A harmonic minor and A melodic minor.
Chords near Amadd9
Change one note of Amadd9 and you have Am (drop the ninth), Asus2 (drop the minor third), Asus2sus4 (the minor third becomes a fourth), Am6 (the ninth becomes a sixth), Am69 (add the sixth) or Am7 (the ninth becomes a flat seventh).
Amadd9 is a minor chord — root, minor third, fifth. Minor chords on every root.
On Amadd9’s sound and use this page follows Robert Rawlins & Nor Eddine Bahha, Jazzology (Hal Leonard, 2005). The shapes and the derived voicings come from different places, and both are explained in where the chords and the theory come from.