About Badd9 — drop 3 voicings
Badd9 is B, D#, F# and C# — B with the ninth added, and no seventh.
It sounds bright and ringing. No seventh at all: that is what “add” means, and it is why this sounds open where a maj9 sounds lush.
Tonic — a triad with one colour on it.
Badd9 notes and formula
| B | D# | F# | C# |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 5 | 9 |
Also written B(add9), Badd2 or B add nine. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play Badd9
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.
Badd9 has 8 of them, on strings 6-4-3-2 and strings 5-3-2-1, from open position up to the 11th — every inversion the chord has: B in the bass, D# in the bass, F# in the bass and C# in the bass. The one to learn first is the F# shape at the nut.
4 of them sit on strings 6-4-3-2, 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.
All 5 common shapes as fret numbers, lowest string first. Hover or tap one to see it drawn.
- x21x22, 1st fret, B, root position, top note F#, barred
- 76x677, 6th fret, B, root position, top note B, barred
- xx98x9, 8th fret, B, root position, top note C#, all fretted
- x-14-13-11-14-11, 11th fret, B, root position, top note D#, all fretted
- x-14-13-x-14-14, 13th fret, B, root position, top note F#, barred
How to use Badd9
How you get to it. The turn that lands on Badd9 is C#m7 to F#7 — the ii and the V of B — and F#7 shares its third and seventh with C#m7, so the hand barely moves between them.
In which keys. Every note of Badd9 belongs to C# minor (the ♭VII), Eb minor (the ♭VI), E major (the V), F# major (the IV), Ab minor (the ♭III) and B major (the I).
What to play over Badd9
Every note of Badd9 is in B major pentatonic, B major, B lydian, B mixolydian and B lydian dominant.
Chords near Badd9
Change one note of Badd9 and you have B (drop the ninth), Bsus2 (drop the major third), Bsus2sus4 (the major third becomes the fourth), Bmaj7 (the ninth becomes the major seventh), Bmaj9 (add the major seventh) or Bmadd9 (the major third becomes the minor third).
Badd9 is a major chord — root, major third, fifth. Major 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.