About Fmadd9 — drop 2 voicings
Fmadd9 is F, Ab, C and G — Fm 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.
Fmadd9 notes and formula
| F | Ab | C | G |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ♭3 | 5 | 9 |
Minor tonic — a triad with one colour on it.
Also written Fm(add9), Fmin(add9) or F-add9. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play Fmadd9
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.
Fmadd9 has 14 of them, on the top four strings, the bottom four strings and the middle four strings, from open position up to the 13th — every inversion the chord has: F in the bass, Ab in the bass, C in the bass and G in the bass. The one to learn first is the F shape at the nut, 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.
Start with xx3113 — no barre and down at the nut. None of the shapes for Fmadd9 uses an open string, so every one of them is movable; the lowest sits at the 1st fret. 3 of the 11 need a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 1st fret to the 15th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 133113 | 1st fret | F, root position | G | barred |
| xx3113 | 1st fret | F, root position | G | all fretted |
| xx6563 | 3rd fret | Ab, 1st inversion | G | all fretted |
| x86068 | 6th fret | F, root position | C | 1 open string |
| x8658x | 5th fret | F, root position | G | all fretted |
| x86x88 | 6th fret | F, root position | C | barred |
| x-8-10-0-9-8 | 8th fret | F, root position | C | 1 open string |
| x-11-10-10-8-x | 8th fret | Ab, 1st inversion | G | all fretted |
| 13-11-x-12-13-x | 11th fret | F, root position | C | all fretted |
| 13-15-15-13-13-15 | 13th fret | F, root position | G | barred |
| x-x-15-13-13-15 | 13th fret | F, root position | G | all fretted |
The same notes rebuilt from scratch give 9 drop 3 voicings, each on its own page.
How to use Fmadd9
How you get to it. The turn that lands on Fmadd9 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 Fmadd9 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 Fmadd9
Every note of Fmadd9 is in F dorian, F natural minor, F harmonic minor and F melodic minor.
Chords near Fmadd9
Change one note of Fmadd9 and you have Fm (drop the ninth), Fsus2 (drop the minor third), Fsus2sus4 (the minor third becomes a fourth), Fm6 (the ninth becomes a sixth), Fm69 (add the sixth) or Fm7 (the ninth becomes a flat seventh).
Fmadd9 is a minor chord — root, minor third, fifth. Minor chords on every root.
On Fmadd9’s sound and use this page follows Robert Rawlins & Nor Eddine Bahha, Jazzology (Hal Leonard, 2005). The shapes and the derived voicings come from different places, and both are explained in where the chords and the theory come from.