Cmadd9 is C, Eb, G and D. 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 Cm(add9), Cmin(add9) or C-add9.
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.
A folk-rock phrase in a minor mode can come home through Eb and Bb to Cmadd9. The ♭VII’s third is the ninth of the i, so it holds over and colours the landing.
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 Cmadd9 belongs to C minor, Eb major, G minor and Bb major.
Contains Cmadd9 and adds fourth, flat thirteenth and flat seventh.
Contains Cmadd9 and adds fourth, sixth and flat seventh.
Contains Cmadd9 and adds fourth, flat thirteenth and major seventh.
Contains Cmadd9 and adds fourth, sixth and major seventh.
The common shapes and the derived voicings come from different places, and both are explained in how this site is built.
Shows each chord the way this style would voice it, and marks which of its alternatives belong to the idiom.