F#m9 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 F#m9 — drop 3 voicings

F#m9 is F#, A, C#, E and G#. It keeps every note of and adds the .

In a ii–V, use F#m9 in place of when you want the 9th included.

Unlike , F#m9 keeps the already found in .

To hear the 9th, compare with F#m9.

Hear the change

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

Also written F#min9, F#-9 or F# minor 9.

F#m9 drop 3 guitar chord diagram: F#, A, C#, E, G#, played 4x425x
F#m9 drop 3 guitar chord voicing: 4-x-4-2-5-x.

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 F#m9

1The ii of an extended ii–V–I

ii in E major

Jazz players rarely leave a ii–V–I as bare sevenths: F#m9, B13, Emaj9. 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 A major

Leave the root off F#m9 and the four notes left are Amaj7. 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 F#m9 belongs to C# minor, E major, F# minor and A major.

What to play over F#m9

Useful scales

  • +BD

    Contains F#m9 and adds eleventh and flat thirteenth.

  • +BD#

    Contains F#m9 and adds eleventh and thirteenth.

Every scale

Chords near F#m9

Remove a note

Change one note

  • 1st inversion
    1st inversion
    E → D#

    Lower the flat seventh to the sixth.

    See F#m69 chord →
  • 3rd inversion
    3rd inversion
    E → E#

    Raise the flat seventh to the major seventh.

    See F#mMaj9 chord →
  • 3rd inversion
    3rd inversion
    A → A#

    Raise the minor third to the major third.

    See F#9 chord →
  • 9th in bass
    1st inversion
    G# → A#

    Replace the ninth with the major third.

    See F#7#9 chord →
  • A → B

    Replace the minor third with the eleventh.

    See F#11 chord →

Add a note

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

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