Dm9 guitar chord

Drop 3 · 9th in bass · 9–R–♭3–♭7 · dropped from root position
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Inversion
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About Dm9 — drop 3 voicings

Dm9 is D, F, A, C and E. It keeps every note of and adds the .

In a ii–V, use Dm9 in place of when you want the 9th included.

Unlike , Dm9 keeps the already found in .

To hear the 9th, compare with Dm9.

Hear the change

One repeated root rises two frets to the 9th. Every other note stays the same.

Also written Dmin9, D-9 or D minor 9.

Dm9 drop 3 guitar chord diagram: D, F, A, C, E, played x7x768
Dm9 drop 3 guitar chord voicing: x-7-x-7-6-8.

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 Dm9

1The ii of an extended ii–V–I

ii in C major

Jazz players rarely leave a ii–V–I as bare sevenths: Dm9, G13, Cmaj9. The ninth on top of the ii is already the V’s thirteenth, so it holds over the barline before falling a step to the ninth of the I.

Compare with

Listen for: The ninth holds as the V’s thirteenth, then falls a whole step. On the plain m7 that string starts on the root and has to climb.

2A maj7 with a new bass

vi in F major

Leave the root off Dm9 and the four notes left are Fmaj7. So the I can turn into the vi without moving a finger above the bass, a tonic swap jazz players make freely.

Listen for: Nothing above moves. A bass note arrives a minor third below the I’s root, and the chord is minor.

In which keys. Every note of Dm9 belongs to C major, D minor, F major and A minor.

What to play over Dm9

Useful scales

  • +GBb

    Contains Dm9 and adds eleventh and flat thirteenth.

  • +GB

    Contains Dm9 and adds eleventh and thirteenth.

Every scale

Chords near Dm9

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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