About C#add9 — drop 3 voicings
C#add9 is C#, E#, G# and D# — C# with the ninth added, and no seventh.
It sounds bright and ringing. No seventh at all: that is what “add” means, and it is why this sounds open where a maj9 sounds lush.
C#add9 notes and formula
| C# | E# | G# | D# |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 5 | 9 |
Tonic — a triad with one colour on it.
Also written C#(add9), C#add2 or C# add nine. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play C#add9
The same operation one voice further down: the third voice from the top falls an octave and becomes the bass.
That leaves a bigger hole under the top three notes, so a string gets skipped: the muted string in the middle is the shape, not a mistake.
C#add9 has 9 of them, on strings 5-3-2-1 and strings 6-4-3-2, from open position up to the 13th — every inversion the chord has: C# in the bass, E# in the bass, G# in the bass and D# in the bass. The one to learn first is the C# shape at the nut.
5 of them sit on strings 6-4-3-2, 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.
Start with x-x-11-10-x-11 — no barre and only 3 fretted notes. None of the shapes for C#add9 uses an open string, so every one of them is movable; the lowest sits at the 1st fret. 2 of the 4 need a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 1st fret to the 11th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| x43141 | 1st fret | C#, root position | E# | all fretted |
| x43x44 | 3rd fret | C#, root position | G# | barred |
| 98x899 | 8th fret | C#, root position | C# | barred |
| x-x-11-10-x-11 | 10th fret | C#, root position | D# | all fretted |
The same notes rebuilt from scratch give 13 drop 2 voicings, each on its own page.
How to use C#add9
How you get to it. The turn that lands on C#add9 is D#m7 to G#7 — the ii and the V of C# — and G#7 shares its third and seventh with D#m7, so the hand barely moves between them.
In which keys. Every note of C#add9 belongs to C# major (the I), Eb minor (the ♭VII), F minor (the ♭VI), F# major (the V), Ab major (the IV) and Bb minor (the ♭III).
What to play over C#add9
Every note of C#add9 is in C# major pentatonic, C# major, C# lydian, C# mixolydian and C# lydian dominant.
Chords near C#add9
Change one note of C#add9 and you have C# (drop the ninth), C#sus2 (drop the major third), C#sus2sus4 (the major third becomes a fourth), C#maj7 (the ninth becomes a major seventh), C#maj9 (add the major seventh) or C#madd9 (the major third becomes a minor third).
C#add9 is a major chord — root, major third, fifth. Major chords on every root.
On C#add9’s sound and use this page follows Robert Rawlins & Nor Eddine Bahha, Jazzology (Hal Leonard, 2005). The shapes and the derived voicings come from different places, and both are explained in where the chords and the theory come from.