Major Ninth Chords

Let’s look at how to build a D flat major 9 chord on the piano. We’ll also learn the pattern for building any other major ninth chord.

What Are Major Ninth Chords?

Major ninth chords are major chords with two added notes. The added notes are the seventh and ninth notes of the matching major scale.

So to build a major ninth chord, we’ll start by building a major chord. We can build a major chord using the first, third and fifth notes of the matching major scale.

Next we’ll add the seventh note of the matching major scale to the chord.

Then we’ll add the ninth note of the scale to the chord. Since scales only have eight notes, we can find the ninth note by repeating the scale into the next octave. The ninth note is the same as the second note of the scale, but one octave up.

Chord Types Printable

Learn to play 17 types of piano chords using 12 different root notes with this 35-page PDF! Chords are sorted both by their root note and type.

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How to Play a D Flat Major 9 Chord

Now let’s build a D flat major 9 chord. We’ll start by building a D flat major chord. We can build a D flat major chord using the first, third and fifth notes of the D flat major scale: D♭ – F – A♭

Then we’ll find the seventh note of the D flat major scale and add it to the chord: C

Then we’ll repeat the scale into the next octave to find the ninth note: E♭

So to play a D flat major 9 chord, we’ll play:

D♭ – F – A♭ – C – E♭

We can use this pattern to build any other major ninth chord. We’ll first build a major chord using the first, third and fifth notes of the matching major scale. Then we’ll find the seventh note of the scale and add it to the chord. Then we’ll repeat the scale into the next octave to find the ninth note and add it to the chord.

Fingering

It can be difficult to reach all these notes in this order with one hand, so one option is to play the D♭ with the left hand and the F – A♭ – C – E♭ with the right hand using fingers 1 – 2 – 3 – 5 (thumbs are 1’s).

Another option is to rearrange the notes by moving the C and E♭ down, and then playing them in this order using fingers 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5:
C – D♭ – E♭ – F – A♭

Other Chord Types

Some of the other chord types we can learn are:

Major
Minor
Augmented
Diminished
Second
Minor Second
Suspended
Fifth
Sixth
Minor Sixth
Seventh
Minor Seventh
Major Seventh
Ninth
Minor Ninth

Conclusion

Now you know how to play a D flat major 9 chord on the piano, and you can use this knowledge to build any other major ninth chord.

Using chords to learn the piano is a wonderful way to enjoy music!