CmMaj9 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 CmMaj9 — drop 2 voicings
CmMaj9 is C, Eb, G, B and D — CmMaj7 with the ninth added on top.
It sounds the same unease with more colour over it. The ninth softens the edge without resolving anything.
CmMaj9 notes and formula
| C | Eb | G | B | D |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ♭3 | 5 | 7 | 9 |
Minor tonic — melodic minor, extended.
Also written CmM9, Cm(maj9) or C-Δ9. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play CmMaj9
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.
CmMaj9 has 5 of them, on the middle four strings, the bottom four strings and the top four strings, from open position up to the 8th — every inversion the chord has: C in the bass, B in the bass and D in the bass. The one to learn first is the C shape at the nut.
Start with x3143x — no barre and down at the nut. 1 of the 8 shapes here sits in open position. 3 of the 8 need a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 1st fret to the 12th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| x30443 | open position | C, root position | G | 1 open string |
| x3143x | 1st fret | C, root position | D | all fretted |
| 365433 | 3rd fret | G, 2nd inversion | G | barred |
| 86x708 | 6th fret | C, root position | C | 1 open string |
| 86x787 | 6th fret | C, root position | B | all fretted |
| 8697xx | 6th fret | C, root position | D | all fretted |
| 8-10-9-8-8-10 | 8th fret | C, root position | D | barred |
| 10-10-10-12-12-11 | 10th fret | D, 9th in the bass | Eb | barred |
The same notes rebuilt from scratch give 3 shell, 3 drop 3, 13 rootless and 5 open string voicings, each on its own page.
Tensions. A shell of CmMaj9, root, third and seventh, leaves a string free, and the tones that belong over it are the 11 (F) and the 13 (A).
How to use CmMaj9
How you get to it. The turn that lands on CmMaj9 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.
What to play over CmMaj9
Every note of CmMaj9 is in C harmonic minor and C melodic minor.
Chords near CmMaj9
Change one note of CmMaj9 and you have Cmaj9 (the minor third becomes a major third), Cm69 (the major seventh becomes a sixth), Cm9 (the major seventh becomes a flat seventh), CmMaj7 (drop the ninth), CmMaj11 (add the fourth) or Cmadd9 (drop the major seventh).
CmMaj9 is a minor chord — root, minor third, fifth. Minor chords on every root.
On CmMaj9’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.