Guitar chord · Ninths
D♭ dominant 9th chord on guitar
9-11-9-10-9-11 · Barre · 9th fret
All 6 shapes, tab & fingering ↓
6 ways to play D♭9 on guitar, with finger positions, tabs and step-by-step instructions.
A dominant 7th with an added 9th — funky and full.
- Notes
- D♭FA♭C♭E♭
- Formula
- 135♭79
- Built from
- root · major 3rd · perfect 5th · minor 7th · major 9th
Guitar
Standard tuning (E A D G B E) · 6 voicings · E string on the left · Other tunings →
How to play it · Barre · 9th fret
- Lay your index finger (1) flat across 5 strings at the 9th fret — this is the barre.
- 6th string (low E): 9th fret, held by the barre D♭
- 5th string (A): 11th fret, ring finger (3) A♭
- 4th string (D): 9th fret, held by the barre C♭
- 3rd string (G): 10th fret, middle finger (2) F
- 2nd string (B): 9th fret, held by the barre A♭
- 1st string (high E): 11th fret, pinky finger (4) E♭
Tablature
e|--11--| B|--9---| G|--10--| D|--9---| A|--11--| E|--9---|
Top line is the high E string. x = don’t play, 0 = open string.
Every D♭9 note on the guitar neck
Bright dots are the selected voicing — the rest are other places you can find the same chord tones.
Tips for playing D♭9 on guitar
There’s no open-string way to play D♭9 on guitar with the root in the bass, so the standard shape is a barre across the 9th fret (9-11-9-10-9-11).
Notice the C♭ in D♭9 (D♭ F A♭ C♭ E♭): each note of the chord takes its own letter (D–F–A–C–E), so the minor 7th has to be written C♭ rather than B — the same key on a piano, spelled to fit the chord.
