Ninths
C minor 9th chord
Silky minor sound heard all over neo-soul and jazz.
- Notes
- CE♭GB♭D
- Formula
- 1♭35♭79
- Built from
- root · minor 3rd · perfect 5th · minor 7th · major 9th
How to play Cm9
About the C minor 9th chord
Playing it
On guitar, Cm9 has an open-position shape, x3034x, using three fingers alongside the open strings. Don’t strum the low E and high E strings.
On piano, Cm9 has two black keys (E♭ and B♭) and three white keys. In root position it spans more than an octave, so many pianists play the root with the left hand and the rest with the right.
On ukulele the usual Cm9 shape is 3335, using four fingers. It leaves out the root, which a bass player (or your ear) fills in.
