F#m9 guitar chord

3rd inversion · E in the bass
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About F#m9 — 3rd inversion

F#m9 is F#, A, C#, E and G#. It keeps every note of and adds the .

In a ii–V, use F#m9 in place of when you want the 9th included.

Unlike , F#m9 keeps the already found in .

To hear the 9th, compare with F#m9.

Hear the change

One repeated root rises two frets to the 9th. Every other note stays the same.

Also written F#min9, F#-9 or F# minor 9.

F#m9 3rd inversion guitar chord diagram: F#, A, C#, E, G#, played xx2224
F#m9 3rd inversion guitar chord voicing: x-x-2-2-2-4.

What 3rd inversion means

F#m9 in 3rd inversion puts E in the bass instead of F#, the 7th of the chord. The notes are the same; what changes is what the bass line does, which is most of why you would reach for it — it lets the lowest voice move by step where the root would have jumped.

One of F#m9’s 16 shapes does this:xx2224

How to use F#m9

1The ii of an extended ii–V–I

ii in E major

Jazz players rarely leave a ii–V–I as bare sevenths: F#m9, B13, Emaj9. The ninth on top of the ii is already the V’s thirteenth, so it holds over the barline before falling a step to the ninth of the I.

Compare with

Listen for: The ninth holds as the V’s thirteenth, then falls a whole step. On the plain m7 that string starts on the root and has to climb.

2A maj7 with a new bass

vi in A major

Leave the root off F#m9 and the four notes left are Amaj7. So the I can turn into the vi without moving a finger above the bass, a tonic swap jazz players make freely.

Listen for: Nothing above moves. A bass note arrives a minor third below the I’s root, and the chord is minor.

In which keys. Every note of F#m9 belongs to C# minor, E major, F# minor and A major.

What to play over F#m9

Useful scales

Every scale

Chords near F#m9

Remove a note

Change one note

Add a note

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.

Midi Settings

7.5
Play Style
One pass of the pick from the lowest string up, everything left ringing.
Instrument
350
150

Style

Shows each chord the way this style would voice it, and marks which of its alternatives belong to the idiom.

Layout

Left Handed Mode