GmMaj9 guitar chord
The third voice from the top lowered an octave. The dropped voice becomes the bass, which is why a string is skipped.
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About GmMaj9 — drop 3 voicings
GmMaj9 is G, Bb, D, F# and A — GmMaj7 with the ninth added on top.
It sounds the same unease with more colour over it. The ninth softens the edge without resolving anything.
GmMaj9 notes and formula
| G | Bb | D | F# | A |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ♭3 | 5 | 7 | 9 |
Minor tonic — melodic minor, extended.
Also written GmM9, Gm(maj9) or G-Δ9. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play GmMaj9
The same operation one voice further down: the third voice from the top falls an octave and becomes the bass.
That leaves a bigger hole under the top three notes, so a string gets skipped: the muted string in the middle is the shape, not a mistake.
GmMaj9 has 4 of them, on strings 6-4-3-2 and strings 5-3-2-1, from the 3rd fret up to the 11th — every inversion the chord has: G in the bass, Bb in the bass and A in the bass. The one to learn first is the A shape at the 3rd fret.
Start with 3142xx — no barre and down at the nut. 1 of the 8 shapes here sits in open position. 4 of the 8 need a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 1st fret to the 13th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 300332 | open position | G, root position | F# | barred |
| 31x232 | 1st fret | G, root position | F# | all fretted |
| 3142xx | 1st fret | G, root position | A | all fretted |
| 354335 | 3rd fret | G, root position | A | barred |
| 555776 | 5th fret | A, 9th in the bass | Bb | barred |
| xx7076 | 6th fret | A, 9th in the bass | Bb | 1 open string |
| x-10-8-11-10-x | 8th fret | G, root position | A | all fretted |
| 10-13-12-11-10-10 | 10th fret | D, 2nd inversion | D | barred |
The same notes rebuilt from scratch give 3 shell, 5 drop 2, 13 rootless and 2 open string voicings, each on its own page.
Tensions. A shell of GmMaj9, 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 GmMaj9
How you get to it. The turn that lands on GmMaj9 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.
What to play over GmMaj9
Every note of GmMaj9 is in G harmonic minor and G melodic minor.
Chords near GmMaj9
Change one note of GmMaj9 and you have Gmaj9 (the minor third becomes a major third), Gm69 (the major seventh becomes a sixth), Gm9 (the major seventh becomes a flat seventh), GmMaj7 (drop the ninth), GmMaj11 (add the fourth) or Gmadd9 (drop the major seventh).
GmMaj9 is a minor chord — root, minor third, fifth. Minor chords on every root.
On GmMaj9’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.