Cmaj9 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 Cmaj9 — uncommon voicings
Cmaj9 is C, E, G, B and D — Cmaj7 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.
Cmaj9 notes and formula
| C | E | G | B | D |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 9 |
Also written CM9, CΔ9, Cma9 or C major 9. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play Cmaj9
Five notes and four fingers, so something has to go. Keep E and B (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 Cmaj9 as a shell — root, third and seventh — and the spare string takes the #11 (F#) or the 13 (A).
All 13 common shapes as fret numbers, lowest string first. Hover or tap one to see it drawn.
- x30000, open position, C, root position, top note E, 4 open strings
- x3243x, 2nd fret, C, root position, top note D, all fretted
- 33243x, 2nd fret, G, 2nd inversion, top note D, barred
- 055557, 5th fret, E, 1st inversion, top note B, barred
- x55557, 5th fret, D, 9th in the bass, top note B, barred
- xx5757, 5th fret, G, 2nd inversion, top note B, all fretted
- 855557, 5th fret, C, root position, top note B, barred
- 879787, 7th fret, C, root position, top note B, barred
- 8-10-9-9-8-10, 8th fret, C, root position, top note D, all fretted
- x-x-9-9-8-10, 8th fret, B, 3rd inversion, top note D, all fretted
- x-x-10-9-12-10, 9th fret, C, root position, top note D, all fretted
- 12-10-10-12-12-10, 10th fret, E, 1st inversion, top note D, barred
- x-15-12-12-12-12, 12th fret, C, root position, top note E, barred
How to use Cmaj9
How you get to it. The turn that lands on Cmaj9 is Dm7 to G7 — the ii and the V of C — and G7 shares its third and seventh with Dm7, so the hand barely moves between them.
In which keys. Every note of Cmaj9 belongs to C major (the I, the tonic), E minor (the ♭VI), G major (the IV, the subdominant) and A minor (the ♭III).
What to play over Cmaj9
Every note of Cmaj9 is in C major and C lydian.
Each of those is a page: the scale across the neck, and the chords it harmonises into — which is where Cmaj9 sits in it. Every scale.
Chords near Cmaj9
Change one note of Cmaj9 and you have Cmaj7 (drop the ninth), Cmaj11 (add the eleventh), Cmaj13 (add the thirteenth), CmMaj9 (the major third becomes the minor third), Cadd9 (drop the major seventh) or C69 (the major seventh becomes the sixth).
Cmaj9 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.