DmMaj9 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
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- Fingers, notes or intervals
- Play the chord
About DmMaj9 — drop 2 voicings
DmMaj9 is D, F, A, C# and E — DmMaj7 with the ninth added on top.
It sounds the same unease with more colour over it. The ninth softens the edge without resolving anything.
DmMaj9 notes and formula
| D | F | A | C# | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ♭3 | 5 | 7 | 9 |
Minor tonic — melodic minor, extended.
Also written DmM9, Dm(maj9) or D-Δ9. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play DmMaj9
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.
DmMaj9 has 7 of them, on the middle four strings, the bottom four strings and the top four strings, from open position up to the 10th — every inversion the chord has: D in the bass, F in the bass, C# in the bass and E in the bass. The one to learn first is the F shape at the nut.
3 of them sit on the top 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.
Start with x53650 — no barre and 1 open string. 1 of the 8 shapes here sits in open position. 3 of the 8 need a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 3rd fret to the 14th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| x53650 | open position | D, root position | E | 1 open string |
| x70665 | 5th fret | E, 9th in the bass | A | 1 open string |
| 587655 | 5th fret | A, 2nd inversion | A | barred |
| x-8-0-9-10-9 | 8th fret | F, 1st inversion | C# | 1 open string |
| 10-8-x-9-10-9 | 8th fret | D, root position | C# | all fretted |
| 10-8-11-9-x-x | 8th fret | D, root position | E | all fretted |
| 10-12-11-10-10-12 | 10th fret | D, root position | E | barred |
| 12-12-12-14-14-13 | 12th fret | E, 9th in the bass | F | barred |
The same notes rebuilt from scratch give 3 shell, 5 drop 3, 13 rootless and 6 open string voicings, each on its own page.
Tensions. A shell of DmMaj9, root, third and seventh, leaves a string free, and the tones that belong over it are the 11 (G) and the 13 (B).
How to use DmMaj9
How you get to it. The turn that lands on DmMaj9 is Em7♭5 to A7♭9: the ii and the V of D minor, which is where a minor tonic is usually arrived at rather than simply begun on.
What to play over DmMaj9
Every note of DmMaj9 is in D harmonic minor and D melodic minor.
Chords near DmMaj9
Change one note of DmMaj9 and you have Dmaj9 (the minor third becomes a major third), Dm69 (the major seventh becomes a sixth), Dm9 (the major seventh becomes a flat seventh), DmMaj7 (drop the ninth), DmMaj11 (add the fourth) or Dmadd9 (drop the major seventh).
DmMaj9 is a minor chord — root, minor third, fifth. Minor chords on every root.
On DmMaj9’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.