FmMaj9 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
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About FmMaj9 — drop 2 voicings
FmMaj9 is F, Ab, C, E and G — FmMaj7 with the ninth added on top.
It sounds the same unease with more colour over it. The ninth softens the edge without resolving anything.
FmMaj9 notes and formula
| F | Ab | C | E | G |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ♭3 | 5 | 7 | 9 |
Minor tonic — melodic minor, extended.
Also written FmM9, Fm(maj9) or F-Δ9. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play FmMaj9
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.
FmMaj9 has 7 of them, on the top four strings, the middle four strings and the bottom four strings, from open position up to the 11th — every inversion the chord has: F in the bass, Ab in the bass, E in the bass and G 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 xx3054 — no barre and 1 open string. 1 of the 9 shapes here sits in open position. 4 of the 9 need a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 1st fret to the 15th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 132113 | 1st fret | F, root position | G | barred |
| xx3054 | open position | F, root position | Ab | 1 open string |
| 333554 | 3rd fret | G, 9th in the bass | Ab | barred |
| x8698x | 6th fret | F, root position | G | all fretted |
| 8-11-10-9-8-8 | 8th fret | C, 2nd inversion | C | barred |
| 13-11-x-12-13-0 | 11th fret | F, root position | C | 1 open string |
| 13-11-x-12-13-12 | 11th fret | F, root position | E | all fretted |
| 13-11-14-12-x-x | 11th fret | F, root position | G | all fretted |
| 13-15-14-13-13-15 | 13th fret | F, root position | G | 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 FmMaj9, 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 FmMaj9
How you get to it. The turn that lands on FmMaj9 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.
What to play over FmMaj9
Every note of FmMaj9 is in F harmonic minor and F melodic minor.
Chords near FmMaj9
Change one note of FmMaj9 and you have Fmaj9 (the minor third becomes a major third), Fm69 (the major seventh becomes a sixth), Fm9 (the major seventh becomes a flat seventh), FmMaj7 (drop the ninth), FmMaj11 (add the fourth) or Fmadd9 (drop the major seventh).
FmMaj9 is a minor chord — root, minor third, fifth. Minor chords on every root.
On FmMaj9’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.