Cmadd9 guitar chord
A close-position chord with the second voice from the top lowered an octave. Sits on four adjacent strings.
- Tap a note to hear it
- Arrows change position
- Fingers, notes or intervals
- Play the chord
About Cmadd9 — drop 2 voicings
Cmadd9 is C, Eb, G and D — Cm with the ninth added, and no seventh.
It sounds sharp-edged. The ninth grinding a whole step under the minor third is the edge an m9 softens.
Minor tonic — a triad with one colour on it.
Cmadd9 notes and formula
| C | Eb | G | D |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ♭3 | 5 | 9 |
Also written Cm(add9), Cmin(add9) or C-add9. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play Cmadd9
Take the four notes stacked as close together as they go, then drop the second voice from the top an octave. The gap it opens is what makes the chord sound like a chord rather than a cluster.
It lands on four adjacent strings, which is why it is the workhorse voicing on guitar.
Cmadd9 has 13 of them, on the middle four strings, the top four strings and the bottom four strings, from open position up to the 12th — every inversion the chord has: C in the bass, Eb in the bass, G in the bass and D in the bass. The one to learn first is the C shape at the nut, which is the easiest grip here.
5 of them sit on the middle four strings, 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 8 common shapes as fret numbers, lowest string first. Hover or tap one to see it drawn.
- x31033, open position, C, root position, top note G, barred
- x30543, open position, C, root position, top note G, 1 open string
- x6553x, 3rd fret, Eb, 1st inversion, top note D, all fretted
- 860788, 6th fret, C, root position, top note C, barred
- 8-10-10-8-8-10, 8th fret, C, root position, top note D, barred
- x-x-10-8-8-10, 8th fret, C, root position, top note D, all fretted
- x-x-13-12-13-10, 10th fret, Eb, 1st inversion, top note D, all fretted
- x-15-13-12-15-x, 12th fret, C, root position, top note D, all fretted
How to use Cmadd9
How you get to it. The turn that lands on Cmadd9 is Dm7♭5 to G7♭9: the ii and the V of C minor, which is where a minor tonic is usually arrived at rather than simply begun on.
In which keys. Every note of Cmadd9 belongs to C minor (the i, the tonic), Eb major (the vi, the submediant), G minor (the iv, the subdominant) and Bb major (the ii, the supertonic).
What to play over Cmadd9
Every note of Cmadd9 is in C dorian, C natural minor, C harmonic minor and C melodic minor.
Chords near Cmadd9
Change one note of Cmadd9 and you have Cm (drop the ninth), Csus2 (drop the minor third), Csus2sus4 (the minor third becomes the fourth), Cm6 (the ninth becomes the sixth), Cm69 (add the sixth) or Cm7 (the ninth becomes the flat seventh).
Cmadd9 is a minor chord — root, minor third, fifth. Minor 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.