Cadd9

C1E3G5D9

A major triad with a ninth added and no seventh — which is what tells it apart from a ninth chord.

on guitar on piano the scale

Every fingering that fits a hand

Fig. 2

5405

easy · no 5

Fig. 3

5203

easy · no 5

Fig. 4

5205

easy · no 5

Fig. 5

520x

easy · no 5

Fig. 6

5435

moderate

What is true of it

Cadd9 is C, E, G and D — 1, 3, 5 and 9 counted from C.

On an instrument that cannot reach all 4, the 5 goes first, in that order.

The easiest of the 5 fingerings below is 5405: 3 fingers, held at the 4th fret.

None of them uses an open string, so this chord moves up the neck unchanged — the same shape 1 fret higher is the chord a semitone above.

It leaves out the 5. 4 strings cannot carry 4 notes, and the 5 is the one this chord can lose without changing what it is.

Where its notes are on the neck

Fig. 7 — first 12 frets

The brass dots are C, the root. Everything else is a chord tone with its degree printed in it.

With a different note underneath

first inversion

Cadd9/E

9caa

second inversion

Cadd9/G

0203

third inversion

Cadd9/D

x203

An inversion is the same chord with a different note lowest. The name changes to a slash name because the bass is what a listener hears as the foundation.

C in other shapes

C9dominant ninth Cmaj9major ninth Cm9minor ninth Cmajor Cmminor Cdimdiminished

C♯add9 D♭add9 Dadd9 D♯add9 E♭add9 Eadd9 Fadd9 F♯add9 all 374