Gm9 guitar chord
The standard grips this chord is usually shown with.
- Tap a note to hear it
- Arrows change position
- Fingers, notes or intervals
- Play the chord
About Gm9 — 1st inversion
Gm9 is G, Bb, D, F and A — Gm7 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.
Gm9 notes and formula
| G | Bb | D | F | A |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ♭3 | 5 | ♭7 | 9 |
Pre-dominant or minor tonic — an m7’s job with more colour.
Also written Gmin9, G-9 or G minor 9. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play Gm9
Gm9 in 1st inversion puts Bb in the bass instead of G, the 3rd 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.
2 of Gm9’s 9 common shapes do this: x13233, 687786.
Start with xx7066 — no barre and 1 open string. 1 of the 9 shapes here sits in open position. 5 of the 9 need a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 1st fret to the 14th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 300331 | open position | G, root position | F | barred |
| 31x231 | 1st fret | G, root position | F | all fretted |
| x13233 | 1st fret | Bb, 1st inversion | G | barred |
| 353335 | 3rd fret | G, root position | A | barred |
| xx7066 | 6th fret | A, 9th in the bass | Bb | 1 open string |
| 687786 | 6th fret | Bb, 1st inversion | Bb | all fretted |
| x-10-8-10-10-x | 8th fret | G, root position | A | barred |
| x-12-12-12-11-13 | 11th fret | A, 9th in the bass | F | barred |
| x-x-12-14-11-13 | 11th fret | D, 2nd inversion | F | all fretted |
The same notes rebuilt from scratch give 4 shell, 13 drop 2, 8 drop 3, 14 rootless and 3 open string voicings, each on its own page.
Tensions. A shell of Gm9, root, third and seventh, leaves a string free, and the tones that belong over it are the 11 (C) and the 13 (E).
How to use Gm9
How you get to it. The turn that lands on Gm9 is Am7♭5 to D7♭9: the ii and the V of G minor, which is where a minor tonic is usually arrived at rather than simply begun on.
In which keys. Every note of Gm9 belongs to D minor (the iv, the subdominant), F major (the ii, the supertonic), G minor (the i, the tonic) and Bb major (the vi, the submediant).
What to play over Gm9
Every note of Gm9 is in G dorian and G natural minor.
Chords near Gm9
Change one note of Gm9 and you have Gm69 (the flat seventh becomes a sixth), Gm7 (drop the ninth), Gm11 (add the fourth), GmMaj9 (the flat seventh becomes a major seventh), Gmadd9 (drop the flat seventh) or G9 (the minor third becomes a major third).
Gm9 is a minor chord — root, minor third, fifth. Minor chords on every root.
On Gm9’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.