Fm9 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 Fm9 — shell voicings
Fm9 is F, Ab, C, Eb and G — Fm7 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.
Fm9 notes and formula
| F | Ab | C | Eb | G |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ♭3 | 5 | ♭7 | 9 |
Pre-dominant or minor tonic — an m7’s job with more colour.
Also written Fmin9, F-9 or F minor 9. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play Fm9
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.
Fm9 has 3 of them, on the middle four strings, the bottom four strings and the top four strings, from open position up to the 11th — all in one inversion, so the bass note never moves. The one to learn first is the F shape at the 6th fret, which is the easiest grip here.
Start with x33044 — no barre and 1 open string. 1 of the 10 shapes here sits in open position. 6 of the 10 need a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 1st fret to the 15th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 131113 | 1st fret | F, root position | G | barred |
| x33044 | open position | C, 2nd inversion | Ab | 1 open string |
| 465564 | 4th fret | Ab, 1st inversion | Ab | all fretted |
| x8688x | 6th fret | F, root position | G | barred |
| x-10-10-10-9-11 | 9th fret | G, 9th in the bass | Eb | barred |
| x-x-10-12-9-11 | 9th fret | C, 2nd inversion | Eb | all fretted |
| 13-11-13-0-13-13 | 11th fret | F, root position | F | barred |
| 13-11-x-12-13-11 | 11th fret | F, root position | Eb | all fretted |
| x-11-13-12-13-13 | 11th fret | Ab, 1st inversion | F | barred |
| 13-15-13-13-13-15 | 13th fret | F, root position | G | barred |
The same notes rebuilt from scratch give 11 drop 2, 7 drop 3, 13 rootless and 1 open string voicings, each on its own page.
Tensions. A shell of Fm9, root, third and seventh, leaves a string free, and the tones that belong over it are the 11 (Bb) and the 13 (D).
How to use Fm9
How you get to it. The turn that lands on Fm9 is Gm7♭5 to C7♭9: the ii and the V of F minor, which is where a minor tonic is usually arrived at rather than simply begun on.
In which keys. Every note of Fm9 belongs to C minor (the iv, the subdominant), Eb major (the ii, the supertonic), F minor (the i, the tonic) and Ab major (the vi, the submediant).
What to play over Fm9
Every note of Fm9 is in F dorian and F natural minor.
Chords near Fm9
Change one note of Fm9 and you have Fm69 (the flat seventh becomes a sixth), Fm7 (drop the ninth), Fm11 (add the fourth), FmMaj9 (the flat seventh becomes a major seventh), Fmadd9 (drop the flat seventh) or F9 (the minor third becomes a major third).
Fm9 is a minor chord — root, minor third, fifth. Minor chords on every root.
On Fm9’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.