BmMaj9 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 BmMaj9 — shell voicings
BmMaj9 is B, D, F#, A# and C# — BmMaj7 with the ninth added on top.
It sounds the same unease with more colour over it. The ninth softens the edge without resolving anything.
BmMaj9 notes and formula
| B | D | F# | A# | C# |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ♭3 | 5 | 7 | 9 |
Minor tonic — melodic minor, extended.
Also written BmM9, Bm(maj9) or B-Δ9. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play BmMaj9
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.
BmMaj9 has 5 of them, on the middle four strings, the bottom four strings, the top four strings and strings 6-4-3-2, from the 2nd fret up to the 12th — all in one inversion, so the bass note never moves. The one to learn first is the B shape at the 2nd fret, which is the easiest grip here.
Start with 75860x — no barre and 1 open string. 1 of the 7 shapes here sits in open position. 4 of the 7 need a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 2nd fret to the 15th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| x20322 | open position | B, root position | F# | barred |
| 254322 | 2nd fret | F#, 2nd inversion | F# | barred |
| 75860x | 5th fret | B, root position | C# | 1 open string |
| 75x676 | 5th fret | B, root position | A# | all fretted |
| 798779 | 7th fret | B, root position | C# | barred |
| 9-9-9-11-11-10 | 9th fret | C#, 9th in the bass | D | barred |
| x-14-12-15-14-x | 12th fret | B, root position | C# | all fretted |
The same notes rebuilt from scratch give 10 drop 2, 6 drop 3, 13 rootless and 4 open string voicings, each on its own page.
Tensions. A shell of BmMaj9, root, third and seventh, leaves a string free, and the tones that belong over it are the 11 (E) and the 13 (G#).
How to use BmMaj9
How you get to it. The turn that lands on BmMaj9 is C#m7♭5 to F#7♭9: the ii and the V of B minor, which is where a minor tonic is usually arrived at rather than simply begun on.
What to play over BmMaj9
Every note of BmMaj9 is in B harmonic minor and B melodic minor.
Chords near BmMaj9
Change one note of BmMaj9 and you have Bmaj9 (the minor third becomes a major third), Bm69 (the major seventh becomes a sixth), Bm9 (the major seventh becomes a flat seventh), BmMaj7 (drop the ninth), BmMaj11 (add the fourth) or Bmadd9 (drop the major seventh).
BmMaj9 is a minor chord — root, minor third, fifth. Minor chords on every root.
On BmMaj9’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.