Bbm9 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 Bbm9 — shell voicings
Bbm9 is Bb, Db, F, Ab and C — Bbm7 with the ninth stacked above it.
It sounds warm, and considerably richer than an m7. The standard voicing for a ii chord once the plain one has been played enough.
Bbm9 notes and formula
| Bb | Db | F | Ab | C |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ♭3 | 5 | ♭7 | 9 |
Pre-dominant or minor tonic — an m7’s job with more colour.
Also written Bbmin9, Bb-9 or Bb minor 9. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play Bbm9
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.
Bbm9 has 3 of them, on the bottom four strings, the middle four strings and the top four strings, from the 4th fret up to the 11th — all in one inversion, so the bass note never moves. The one to learn first is the Bb shape at the 4th fret, which is the easiest grip here.
Start with xx3524 — no barre and down at the nut. None of the shapes for Bbm9 uses an open string, so every one of them is movable; the lowest sits at the 2nd fret. 4 of the 7 need a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 2nd fret to the 13th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| x33324 | 2nd fret | C, 9th in the bass | Ab | barred |
| xx3524 | 2nd fret | F, 2nd inversion | Ab | all fretted |
| 64x564 | 4th fret | Bb, root position | Ab | all fretted |
| x46566 | 4th fret | Db, 1st inversion | Bb | barred |
| 686668 | 6th fret | Bb, root position | C | barred |
| 9-11-10-10-11-9 | 9th fret | Db, 1st inversion | Db | all fretted |
| x-13-11-13-13-x | 11th fret | Bb, root position | C | barred |
The same notes rebuilt from scratch give 10 drop 2, 7 drop 3 and 14 rootless voicings, each on its own page.
Tensions. A shell of Bbm9, root, third and seventh, leaves a string free, and the tones that belong over it are the 11 (Eb) and the 13 (G).
How to use Bbm9
How you get to it. The turn that lands on Bbm9 is Cm7♭5 to F7♭9: the ii and the V of Bb minor, which is where a minor tonic is usually arrived at rather than simply begun on.
In which keys. Every note of Bbm9 belongs to C# major (the vi, the submediant), F minor (the iv, the subdominant), Ab major (the ii, the supertonic) and Bb minor (the i, the tonic).
What to play over Bbm9
Every note of Bbm9 is in Bb dorian and Bb natural minor.
Chords near Bbm9
Change one note of Bbm9 and you have Bbm69 (the flat seventh becomes a sixth), Bbm7 (drop the ninth), Bbm11 (add the fourth), BbmMaj9 (the flat seventh becomes a major seventh), Bbmadd9 (drop the flat seventh) or Bb9 (the minor third becomes a major third).
Bbm9 is a minor chord — root, minor third, fifth. Minor chords on every root.
On Bbm9’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.