Bbmadd9 guitar chord

Drop 3 · 9th in bass · 9–R–♭3–5 · dropped from root position
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Inversion
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About Bbmadd9 — drop 3 voicings

Bbmadd9 is Bb, Db, F and C. It adds the to without adding a 7th. includes the flat 7th as well.

The and are a half step apart. Let both notes ring over a held minor chord. Rock writers often use that close interval.

Also written Bbm(add9), Bbmin(add9) or Bb-add9.

Bbmadd9 drop 3 guitar chord diagram: Bb, Db, F, C, played x3x321
Bbmadd9 drop 3 guitar chord voicing: x-3-x-3-2-1.

What is drop 3

Drop 3
close
753R
→
dropped
75R3

Drop the third voice from the top an octave instead. The wider gap skips a string, so the muted string is part of the shape.

That result, 3–R–5–7, is the shape usually meant by drop 3. Named by its bass note, as the inversions are here, it is the 1st inversion.

More familiar jazz shapes are drop 3 than drop 2.

E×ADGB

How to use Bbmadd9

1Ending a folk-modal phrase

♭III – ♭VII – i

A folk-rock phrase in a minor mode can come home through Db and Ab to Bbmadd9. The ♭VII’s third is the ninth of the i, so it holds over and colours the landing.

Compare with

Listen for: A half step down to the ♭VII’s third, which then holds as the ninth. On the plain minor chord it falls a whole step to the root.

Heard in“John Barleycorn”

In which keys. Every note of Bbmadd9 belongs to C# major, F minor, Ab major and Bb minor.

What to play over Bbmadd9

Useful scales

  • +EbGbAb

    Contains Bbmadd9 and adds fourth, flat thirteenth and flat seventh.

  • +EbGAb

    Contains Bbmadd9 and adds fourth, sixth and flat seventh.

  • +EbGbA

    Contains Bbmadd9 and adds fourth, flat thirteenth and major seventh.

  • +EbGA

    Contains Bbmadd9 and adds fourth, sixth and major seventh.

Every scale

Chords near Bbmadd9

Change one note

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Minor chords on every root

The common shapes and the derived voicings come from different places, and both are explained in how this site is built.

Midi Settings

7.5
Play Style
One pass of the pick from the lowest string up, everything left ringing.
Instrument
350
150

Style

Shows each chord the way this style would voice it, and marks which of its alternatives belong to the idiom.

Layout

Left Handed Mode