The Bm(add9) chord on guitar: B minor with an added ninth

Bm(add9) is B minor with C# added. The chord stays minor, because the D is still there, but the ninth opens it up: darker than Badd9, airier than plain Bm, the sound of a slow arpeggio in a film score. You will also see it written Bmadd9 or Bm add9; it is the same chord. Here are three ways to play it, one of them close to the nut.

Bm(add9) chord: notes and shapes at a glance

• Name: B minor add nine
• Symbol: Bm(add9)
• Notes: B, D, F#, C#

Each shape below is written from the thickest string to the thinnest: a number is the fret, 0 an open string, x a string you do not play. New to this? See how to read chord diagrams.

Read each diagram from the thickest string on the left to the thinnest on the right. A cross means the string is not played, a circle means it rings open.

How to play Bm(add9), three ways

1. Four strings: xx9779

Third finger on the D string at fret 9: B, the root. First finger flat across the G and B strings at fret 7: D, the minor third, and F#, the fifth. Fourth finger on the high E at fret 9: C#, the ninth. Strum the top four strings. Every note of the chord is there, once, which is why it sounds so clear.

2. With the open D: x20422

First finger on the A string at fret 2 (B). Leave the D string open: it gives you D, the minor third. Fourth finger on the G string at fret 4 (B again). Second finger on the B string at fret 2 (C#), third finger on the high E at fret 2 (F#). The first finger must stay on its tip so the open D rings. It is a reach for the fourth finger, but no barre.

3. The barre: 799779

Play the B minor barre at the seventh fret, 799777, then add the fourth finger on the high E at fret 9. The barre now only needs to cover the first five strings, from the low E to the B string. Six strings, B in the bass, C# on top.

The x24632 voicing, and why it is not first

Many charts give Bm(add9) as x24632: the B minor barre at the second fret with the fourth finger stretched to the G string at fret 6. That fret 6 note is C#, and the chord is correct: B, F#, C#, D and F#.

The fingering is first finger on the A string and high E at fret 2, third finger on the D string at fret 4, second finger on the B string at fret 3, fourth finger on the G string at fret 6. That last reach, four frets above the barre, is the problem: most hands cannot hold it without the barre lifting. Without the high E, x2463x is a little easier and still complete. Try it once your Bm barre is solid; until then, the shapes above give you the same sound.

Bm(add9) next to its neighbors

If you want the minor seventh without the ninth, that is Bm7. The add9 idea is easier to hear first in open position: Em(add9) and Dm(add9) use open strings and need almost no stretch.

Progressions with Bm(add9)

Bm(add9) replaces Bm wherever Bm appears: as the vi chord in D major, or as home in B minor. It shines in arpeggios, where each note has time to ring.