Amaj9 guitar chord
The root left to the bass player. Frees a finger for a tension.
- Tap a note to hear it
- Arrows change position
- Fingers, notes or intervals
- Play the chord
About Amaj9 — rootless voicings
Amaj9 is A, C#, E, G# and B — Amaj7 with the ninth stacked above it.
It sounds a maj7 with more air in it. The ninth argues with nothing here, so it works anywhere a maj7 does.
Amaj9 notes and formula
| A | C# | E | G# | B |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 9 |
Tonic — an extended resting chord.
Also written AM9, AΔ9, Ama9 or A major 9. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play Amaj9
Leave the root to the bass player. In a band nobody misses it, and the ear supplies it from the guide tones anyway.
The finger it frees goes to a tension, which is why these sound richer than the shape they came from rather than thinner.
Amaj9 has 14 of them, on the middle four strings, the top four strings and strings 5-3-2-1, from open position up to the 13th — every inversion the chord has: C# in the bass, E in the bass, G# in the bass and B in the bass. The one to learn first is the B shape at the nut, 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.
Start with x02424 — no barre and 1 open string. 2 of the 14 shapes here sit in open position. 6 of the 14 need a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 2nd fret to the 13th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| x02424 | open position | A, root position | G# | 1 open string |
| x22224 | 2nd fret | B, 9th in the bass | G# | barred |
| xx2424 | 2nd fret | E, 2nd inversion | G# | all fretted |
| 522224 | 2nd fret | A, root position | G# | barred |
| 546450 | open position | A, root position | E | 1 open string |
| 546454 | 4th fret | A, root position | G# | barred |
| x06657 | 5th fret | A, root position | B | 1 open string |
| 576657 | 5th fret | A, root position | B | all fretted |
| xx6657 | 5th fret | G#, 3rd inversion | B | all fretted |
| xx7697 | 6th fret | A, root position | B | all fretted |
| 977997 | 7th fret | C#, 1st inversion | B | barred |
| x-12-9-9-9-9 | 9th fret | A, root position | C# | barred |
| x-12-11-13-12-x | 11th fret | A, root position | B | all fretted |
| 12-12-11-13-12-x | 11th fret | E, 2nd inversion | B | barred |
The same notes rebuilt from scratch give 3 shell, 10 drop 2, 7 drop 3 and 5 open string voicings, each on its own page.
Tensions. A shell of Amaj9, 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 Amaj9
How you get to it. The turn that lands on Amaj9 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 Amaj9 belongs to C# minor (the ♭VI), E major (the IV, the subdominant), F# minor (the ♭III) and A major (the I, the tonic).
What to play over Amaj9
Every note of Amaj9 is in A major and A lydian.
Chords near Amaj9
Change one note of Amaj9 and you have Amaj7 (drop the ninth), Amaj11 (add the fourth), Amaj13 (add the sixth), AmMaj9 (the major third becomes a minor third), Aadd9 (drop the major seventh) or A69 (the major seventh becomes a sixth).
Amaj9 is a major chord — root, major third, fifth. Major chords on every root.
On Amaj9’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.