Emadd9 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 Emadd9 — drop 2 voicings
Emadd9 is E, G, B and F# — Em with the ninth added, and no seventh.
It sounds sharp-edged. The ninth grinding a whole step under the minor third is the edge an m9 softens.
Minor tonic — a triad with one colour on it.
Emadd9 notes and formula
| E | G | B | F# |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ♭3 | 5 | 9 |
Also written Em(add9), Emin(add9) or E-add9. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play Emadd9
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.
Emadd9 has 14 of them, on the top four strings, the bottom four strings and the middle four strings, from the 2nd fret up to the 12th — every inversion the chord has: E in the bass, G in the bass, B in the bass and F# in the bass. The one to learn first is the E shape at the 2nd fret, which is the easiest grip here.
5 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.
All 10 common shapes as fret numbers, lowest string first. Hover or tap one to see it drawn.
- x7547x, 4th fret, E, root position, top note F#, all fretted
- x75x77, 5th fret, E, root position, top note B, barred
- 12-10-x-11-12-x, 10th fret, E, root position, top note B, all fretted
- 12-10-x-11-12-x, 10th fret, E, root position, top note B, all fretted
- 12-14-14-12-12-14, 12th fret, E, root position, top note F#, barred
- 12-14-14-12-12-14, 12th fret, E, root position, top note F#, barred
- xx5452, 2nd fret, G, 1st inversion, top note F#, all fretted
- x-10-9-9-7-x, 7th fret, G, 1st inversion, top note F#, all fretted
- x-x-14-12-12-14, 12th fret, E, root position, top note F#, all fretted
- x-x-14-12-12-14, 12th fret, E, root position, top note F#, all fretted
How to use Emadd9
How you get to it. The turn that lands on Emadd9 is F#m7♭5 to B7♭9: the ii and the V of E minor, which is where a minor tonic is usually arrived at rather than simply begun on.
In which keys. Every note of Emadd9 belongs to D major (the ii, the supertonic), E minor (the i, the tonic), G major (the vi, the submediant) and B minor (the iv, the subdominant).
What to play over Emadd9
Every note of Emadd9 is in E dorian, E natural minor, E harmonic minor and E melodic minor.
Chords near Emadd9
Change one note of Emadd9 and you have Em (drop the ninth), Esus2 (drop the minor third), Esus2sus4 (the minor third becomes the fourth), Em6 (the ninth becomes the sixth), Em69 (add the sixth) or Em7 (the ninth becomes the flat seventh).
Emadd9 is a minor chord — root, minor third, fifth. Minor 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.