Explore Cmaj9: Master Guitar Fretboard Shapes & Sounds

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The C major ninth chord, written Cmaj9, stacks root C, major third E, fifth G, major seventh B and ninth D.

There are eleven voicings on this page, four of them with open strings and three using a barre. The C major scale holds each of these notes, so it shows you which neighbouring notes fit. The shapes run from fret 1 up to fret 12. When you add the chord to a progression, smoother chord changes will help.

Press play on the fretboard player at the top to hear Cmaj9 strummed and as an arpeggio.

C major 9th guitar chord is also written as Cmaj9, CM9, CΔ9 or Cma9.

Notes of the C maj9 chord:

C E G B D

Chord formula for the Major Ninth chord:

Formula: 1 3 5 7 9

C Maj9 Guitar Chord Diagrams

Position 1 Movable

Finger Positions

Mute the low E string
Mute the high E string
Place your index finger (1) on the fret 2 of the D string
Place your middle finger (2) on the fret 3 of the A string
Place your ring finger (3) on the fret 3 of the B string
Place your pinky finger (4) on the fret 4 of the G string

Position 2 Barre Movable

Finger Positions

Mute the B string
Mute the high E string
Place your index finger (1) on the fret 7 of the A and G strings at the same time
Place your middle finger (2) on the fret 8 of the low E string
Place your ring finger (3) on the fret 9 of the D string

Position 3 Barre Movable

Finger Positions

Mute the low E string
Mute the A string
Place your index finger (1) on the fret 7 of the G and high E strings at the same time
Place your middle finger (2) on the fret 8 of the B string
Place your pinky finger (4) on the fret 10 of the D string

Position 4 Open

Finger Positions

Mute the low E string
Let the high E string play without pressing any fret
Place your index finger (1) on the fret 3 of the A string
Place your middle finger (2) on the fret 3 of the B string
Place your ring finger (3) on the fret 4 of the G string
Place your pinky finger (4) on the fret 5 of the D string

Position 5 Open

Finger Positions

Mute the low E string
Let the D string play without pressing any fret
Let the high E string play without pressing any fret
Place your index finger (1) on the fret 3 of the A string
Place your middle finger (2) on the fret 3 of the B string
Place your ring finger (3) on the fret 4 of the G string

Position 6 Open

Finger Positions

Mute the low E string
Let the D string play without pressing any fret
Let the G string play without pressing any fret
Let the B string play without pressing any fret
Let the high E string play without pressing any fret
Place your ring finger (3) on the fret 3 of the A string

Position 7 Barre Movable

Finger Positions

Mute the low E string
Mute the A string
Place your index finger (1) on the fret 2 of the D string
Place your middle finger (2) on the fret 3 of the B and high E strings at the same time
Place your ring finger (3) on the fret 4 of the G string

Position 8 Movable

Finger Positions

Mute the low E string
Mute the A string
Place your index finger (1) on the fret 8 of the B string
Place your middle finger (2) on the fret 9 of the D string
Place your ring finger (3) on the fret 9 of the G string
Place your pinky finger (4) on the fret 10 of the high E string

Position 9 Open

Finger Positions

Mute the low E string
Let the D string play without pressing any fret
Let the G string play without pressing any fret
Let the high E string play without pressing any fret
Place your index finger (1) on the fret 1 of the B string
Place your middle finger (2) on the fret 2 of the A string

Position 10 Movable

Finger Positions

Mute the A string
Mute the high E string
Place your index finger (1) on the fret 7 of the G string
Place your middle finger (2) on the fret 8 of the low E string
Place your ring finger (3) on the fret 8 of the B string
Place your pinky finger (4) on the fret 9 of the D string

Position 11 Movable

Finger Positions

Mute the low E string
Mute the A string
Place your index finger (1) on the fret 9 of the G string
Place your middle finger (2) on the fret 10 of the D string
Place your ring finger (3) on the fret 10 of the high E string
Place your pinky finger (4) on the fret 12 of the B string

Find more shapes in our all guitar chords online library. If you prefer a printable pdf, download the Free Guitar Chords Chart Pdf

Play This Chord With Other Roots

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In the ebook you can also find maps show you the tones in a chord all along the fretboard. They are incredibly helpful because allow you to:

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Created by

Giancarlo Facoetti

Giancarlo is a musician (teaching guitar since 2000), software engineer, AI consultant and published researcher

FAQ

What notes does Cmaj9 contain?

C, E, G, B and D. That is a C major triad plus the major seventh B and the major ninth D, all natural notes.

How many Cmaj9 voicings are there on guitar?

Eleven voicings: four with open strings and three using a barre. They span fret 1 to fret 12.

How is C major ninth different from Cmaj7?

Cmaj7 is C, E, G and B. The ninth chord adds D on top of them, so it has five different notes instead of four.

Which scale can I use over Cmaj9?

The C major scale: C, D, E, F, G, A and B. All five chord tones are natural notes of that scale.