Bbmaj9 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 Bbmaj9 — uncommon voicings
Bbmaj9 is Bb, D, F, A and C — Bbmaj7 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.
Tonic — an extended resting chord.
Bbmaj9 notes and formula
| Bb | D | F | A | C |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 9 |
Also written BbM9, BbΔ9, Bbma9 or Bb major 9. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play Bbmaj9
Five notes and four fingers, so something has to go. Keep D and A (they fix the quality) and C (what the symbol is about). Let F and Bb go, in that order — a perfect fifth says nothing the root has not, and in a band the bass has the root.
Play Bbmaj9 as a shell — root, third and seventh — and the spare string takes the #11 (E) or the 13 (G).
All 12 common shapes as fret numbers, lowest string first. Hover or tap one to see it drawn.
- 11021x, open position, F, 2nd inversion, top note C, barred
- x33335, 3rd fret, C, 9th in the bass, top note A, barred
- xx3535, 3rd fret, F, 2nd inversion, top note A, all fretted
- 633335, 3rd fret, Bb, root position, top note A, barred
- 657565, 5th fret, Bb, root position, top note A, barred
- 687768, 6th fret, Bb, root position, top note C, all fretted
- xx7768, 6th fret, A, 3rd inversion, top note C, all fretted
- x-x-8-7-10-8, 7th fret, Bb, root position, top note C, all fretted
- 10-8-8-10-10-8, 8th fret, D, 1st inversion, top note C, barred
- x-13-10-10-10-10, 10th fret, Bb, root position, top note D, barred
- x-13-12-14-13-x, 12th fret, Bb, root position, top note C, all fretted
- 13-13-12-14-13-x, 12th fret, F, 2nd inversion, top note C, barred
How to use Bbmaj9
How you get to it. The turn that lands on Bbmaj9 is Cm7 to F7 — the ii and the V of Bb — and F7 shares its third and seventh with Cm7, so the hand barely moves between them.
In which keys. Every note of Bbmaj9 belongs to D minor (the ♭VI), F major (the IV, the subdominant), G minor (the ♭III) and Bb major (the I, the tonic).
What to play over Bbmaj9
Every note of Bbmaj9 is in Bb major and Bb lydian.
Each of those is a page: the scale across the neck, and the chords it harmonises into — which is where Bbmaj9 sits in it. Every scale.
Chords near Bbmaj9
Change one note of Bbmaj9 and you have Bbmaj7 (drop the ninth), Bbmaj11 (add the eleventh), Bbmaj13 (add the thirteenth), BbmMaj9 (the major third becomes the minor third), Bbadd9 (drop the major seventh) or Bb69 (the major seventh becomes the sixth).
Bbmaj9 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.