C9 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 C9 — uncommon voicings
C9 is C, E, G, Bb and D — C7 with the ninth stacked on top.
It sounds bright and full, still clearly pulling. The ninth adds height without softening the tritone underneath it, which is why funk and soul comp on this rather than on a plain 7.
Dominant — the same pull as a 7, with more colour.
C9 notes and formula
| C | E | G | Bb | D |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 5 | ♭7 | 9 |
Also written Cdom9 or C dominant 9. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play C9
Five notes and four fingers, so something has to go. Keep E and Bb (they fix the quality) and D (what the symbol is about). Let G and C go, in that order — a perfect fifth says nothing the root has not, and in a band the bass has the root.
Play C9 as a shell — root, third and seventh — and the spare string takes the #11 (F#), the b13 (Ab) or the 13 (A).
All 10 common shapes as fret numbers, lowest string first. Hover or tap one to see it drawn.
- x32030, open position, C, root position, top note E, 2 open strings
- x32333, 2nd fret, C, root position, top note G, barred
- x55556, 5th fret, D, 9th in the bass, top note Bb, barred
- 855756, 5th fret, C, root position, top note Bb, barred
- 8787xx, 7th fret, C, root position, top note D, all fretted
- 8-10-8-7-8-10, 7th fret, C, root position, top note D, barred
- 8-10-8-9-8-10, 8th fret, C, root position, top note D, barred
- x-x-10-9-11-10, 9th fret, C, root position, top note D, all fretted
- 12-x-10-12-11-10, 10th fret, E, 1st inversion, top note D, all fretted
- x-15-14-15-15-15, 14th fret, C, root position, top note G, barred
How to use C9
C9 is the V of F, and that is where it goes if it goes anywhere: the third and the flat seventh are a tritone apart, and both resolve by a semitone into F.
In a phrase:Gm7→C9→Fmaj7— the ii–V–I of F.
Voice by voice, C9 → F. 2 voices move by a semitone, and one note is common to both chords.
| In C9 | Moves | In F |
|---|---|---|
| C, the root | stays where it is | C, the fifth |
| E, the major third | rises a semitone | F, the root |
| G, the fifth | falls a whole tone | F, the root |
| Bb, the flat seventh | falls a semitone | A, the major third |
| D, the ninth | falls a whole tone | C, the fifth |
In which keys. Every note of C9 belongs to D minor (the ♭VII) and F major (the V, the dominant).
What to play over C9
Every note of C9 is in C mixolydian and C lydian dominant.
Each of those is a page: the scale across the neck, and the chords it harmonises into — which is where C9 sits in it. Every scale.
Chords near C9
Change one note of C9 and you have Cmaj9 (the flat seventh becomes the major seventh), Cm9 (the major third becomes the minor third), Cadd9 (drop the flat seventh), C69 (the flat seventh becomes the sixth), C7 (drop the ninth) or C7/G (drop the ninth).
C9 is a dominant chord — root, major third, fifth, minor seventh. Dominant seventh 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.