Ebm9 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 Ebm9 — shell voicings
Ebm9 is Eb, Gb, Bb, Db and F — Ebm7 with the ninth stacked above it.
It sounds warm, and considerably richer than an m7. The standard voicing for a ii chord once the plain one has been played enough.
Ebm9 notes and formula
| Eb | Gb | Bb | Db | F |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ♭3 | 5 | ♭7 | 9 |
Pre-dominant or minor tonic — an m7’s job with more colour.
Also written Ebmin9, Eb-9 or Eb minor 9. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play Ebm9
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.
Ebm9 has 3 of them, on the middle four strings, the bottom four strings and the top four strings, from the 4th fret up to the 11th — all in one inversion, so the bass note never moves. The one to learn first is the Eb shape at the 4th fret, which is the easiest grip here.
Start with x-x-8-10-7-9 — no barre. None of the shapes for Ebm9 uses an open string, so every one of them is movable; the lowest sits at the 2nd fret. 4 of the 7 need a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 2nd fret to the 13th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 243342 | 2nd fret | Gb, 1st inversion | Gb | all fretted |
| x6466x | 4th fret | Eb, root position | F | barred |
| x88879 | 7th fret | F, 9th in the bass | Db | barred |
| x-x-8-10-7-9 | 7th fret | Bb, 2nd inversion | Db | all fretted |
| 11-9-x-10-11-9 | 9th fret | Eb, root position | Db | all fretted |
| x-9-11-10-11-11 | 9th fret | Gb, 1st inversion | Eb | barred |
| 11-13-11-11-11-13 | 11th fret | Eb, root position | F | barred |
The same notes rebuilt from scratch give 10 drop 2, 7 drop 3 and 13 rootless voicings, each on its own page.
Tensions. A shell of Ebm9, root, third and seventh, leaves a string free, and the tones that belong over it are the 11 (Ab) and the 13 (C).
How to use Ebm9
How you get to it. The turn that lands on Ebm9 is Fm7♭5 to Bb7♭9: the ii and the V of Eb minor, which is where a minor tonic is usually arrived at rather than simply begun on.
In which keys. Every note of Ebm9 belongs to C# major (the ii, the supertonic), Eb minor (the i, the tonic), F# major (the vi, the submediant) and Bb minor (the iv, the subdominant).
What to play over Ebm9
Every note of Ebm9 is in Eb dorian and Eb natural minor.
Chords near Ebm9
Change one note of Ebm9 and you have Ebm69 (the flat seventh becomes a sixth), Ebm7 (drop the ninth), Ebm11 (add the fourth), EbmMaj9 (the flat seventh becomes a major seventh), Ebmadd9 (drop the flat seventh) or Eb9 (the minor third becomes a major third).
Ebm9 is a minor chord — root, minor third, fifth. Minor chords on every root.
On Ebm9’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.