AmMaj9 guitar chord
Playable, correctly spelled, and not how the chord is normally voiced. Right now this is the shapes that put a ninth, eleventh or thirteenth below the root.
- Tap a note to hear it
- Arrows change position
- Fingers, notes or intervals
- Play the chord
About AmMaj9 — uncommon voicings
AmMaj9 is A, C, E, G# and B — AmMaj7 with the ninth added on top.
It sounds the same unease with more colour over it. The ninth softens the edge without resolving anything.
Minor tonic — melodic minor, extended.
AmMaj9 notes and formula
| A | C | E | G# | B |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ♭3 | 5 | 7 | 9 |
Also written AmM9, Am(maj9) or A-Δ9. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play AmMaj9
Five notes and four fingers, so something has to go. Keep C and G# (they fix the quality) and B (what the symbol is about). Let E and A go, in that order — a perfect fifth says nothing the root has not, and in a band the bass has the root.
Play AmMaj9 as a shell — root, third and seventh — and the spare string takes the 11 (D) or the 13 (F#).
All 8 common shapes as fret numbers, lowest string first. Hover or tap one to see it drawn.
- 53x454, 3rd fret, A, root position, top note G#, all fretted
- x06504, open position, A, root position, top note G#, 2 open strings
- 5364xx, 3rd fret, A, root position, top note B, all fretted
- 576557, 5th fret, A, root position, top note B, barred
- x09998, 8th fret, A, root position, top note C, barred
- 777998, 7th fret, B, 9th in the bass, top note C, barred
- x-12-10-13-12-x, 10th fret, A, root position, top note B, all fretted
- 12-15-14-13-12-12, 12th fret, E, 2nd inversion, top note E, barred
How to use AmMaj9
How you get to it. The turn that lands on AmMaj9 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.
What to play over AmMaj9
Every note of AmMaj9 is in A harmonic minor and A melodic minor.
Each of those is a page: the scale across the neck, and the chords it harmonises into — which is where AmMaj9 sits in it. Every scale.
Chords near AmMaj9
Change one note of AmMaj9 and you have Amaj9 (the minor third becomes the major third), Am69 (the major seventh becomes the sixth), Am9 (the major seventh becomes the flat seventh), AmMaj7 (drop the ninth), AmMaj11 (add the eleventh) or Amadd9 (drop the major seventh).
AmMaj9 is a minor chord — root, minor third, fifth. Minor 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.