C#m69 guitar chord
Root, third and seventh: the guide tones fix the quality, so the fifth is dropped. That is what leaves a string free, so pick a tension to put on top.
- Tap a note to hear it
- Arrows change position
- Fingers, notes or intervals
- Play the chord
About C#m69 — shell voicings
C#m69 is C#, E, G#, A# and D# — C#m6 with the ninth added as well.
It sounds cool and entirely at rest. No seventh, so nothing leans: a common last chord of a minor tune.
C#m69 notes and formula
| C# | E | G# | A# | D# |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ♭3 | 5 | 6 | 9 |
Minor tonic — nothing in it is pulling.
Also written C#m6/9, C#min6/9 or C#-6/9. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play C#m69
Root, third and seventh. The third and seventh, the guide tones, are what make the chord major, minor or dominant, so the fifth can go: it says nothing the symbol needs.
Three notes means a spare string, which is the real point. Put a tension on it.
C#m69 has 3 of them, on the middle four strings, the bottom four strings and the top four strings, from the 2nd fret up to the 9th — all in one inversion, so the bass note never moves. The one to learn first is the C# shape at the 2nd fret, which is the easiest grip here.
Start with x41320 — no barre and 1 open string. 1 of the 9 shapes here sits in open position. 5 of the 9 need a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 1st fret to the 13th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| x41320 | open position | C#, root position | E | 1 open string |
| x4234x | 2nd fret | C#, root position | D# | all fretted |
| 9788x0 | 7th fret | C#, root position | E | 1 open string |
| x78899 | 7th fret | E, 1st inversion | C# | all fretted |
| 9-x-8-9-9-11 | 8th fret | C#, root position | D# | barred |
| 9-x-11-9-11-11 | 9th fret | C#, root position | D# | barred |
| x-x-11-9-11-11 | 9th fret | C#, root position | D# | barred |
| x-11-11-9-11-11 | 9th fret | G#, 2nd inversion | D# | barred |
| 12-11-11-13-11-11 | 11th fret | E, 1st inversion | D# | barred |
The same notes rebuilt from scratch give 13 drop 2, 9 drop 3 and 12 rootless voicings, each on its own page.
Tensions. A shell of C#m69, root, third and seventh, leaves a string free, and the tones that belong over it are the 11 (F#).
How to use C#m69
How you get to it. The turn that lands on C#m69 is D#m7♭5 to G#7♭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 C#m69 belongs to Ab minor (the iv, the subdominant) and B major (the ii, the supertonic).
What to play over C#m69
Every note of C#m69 is in C# dorian and C# melodic minor.
Chords near C#m69
Change one note of C#m69 and you have C#m6 (drop the ninth), C#m9 (the sixth becomes a flat seventh), C#mMaj9 (the sixth becomes a major seventh), C#madd9 (drop the sixth) or C#69 (the minor third becomes a major third).
C#m69 is a minor chord — root, minor third, fifth. Minor chords on every root.
On C#m69’s sound and use this page follows Mark Levine, The Jazz Piano Book (Sher Music, 1989). The shapes and the derived voicings come from different places, and both are explained in where the chords and the theory come from.