Minor Ninth Chords

Let’s look at how to play an Fm9 (“F minor ninth”) chord on the piano. We’ll also learn the pattern for building any other minor ninth chord.

What Are Minor Ninth Chords?

Minor ninth chords are minor chords with two added notes. The added notes are the seventh note of the matching major scale, lowered 1/2 step, and the ninth note of the scale.

To build a minor ninth chord, we’ll start by building a minor chord. We can build a minor chord by taking the matching major chord and lowering the middle note 1/2 step.

Then we’ll add the seventh note of the matching major scale, lowered 1/2 step, to the minor chord.

The last note of the chord is the ninth note of the matching major scale. Since scales only have eight notes, to find the ninth, we can repeat 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

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How to Play an Fm9 Chord

To play an Fm9 chord, we’ll start by building an F minor chord. We can build an F minor chord by taking an F major chord, F – A – C and lowering the middle note 1/2 step: F – A♭ – C

Then we’ll find the seventh note of the F major scale, E, lower it 1/2 step, and add it to the chord: E♭

Then we’ll repeat the F major scale into the next octave to find the ninth note: G

So to play an Fm9 chord, we’ll play:

F – A♭ – C – E♭ – G

We can use this pattern to build any other minor ninth chord! First we can build a minor chord, then we can add the seventh note of the matching major scale, lowered 1/2 step, and then we can repeat the scale into the next octave to find the ninth note.

Fingering

You probably can’t reach all these notes with your right hand, so here are a few options:

You can re-arrange the notes by moving the G back down to the position of a second. Or you can play the F with your left hand and the other notes with your right.

If you move the G down to the position of a second, you’ll play the notes in this order: F – G – A♭ – C – E♭ using fingers 1 – 1 – 2 – 3 – 5 (thumbs are 1’s). The thumb can lay at an angle to play both the F and the G.

If you play the F with your left hand and the other notes with your right, you can use fingers 1 – 2 – 3 – 5 to play the A♭ – C – E♭ – G.

Other Chord Types

Some other chord types you can learn are:

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

Conclusion

Now you know how to play an Fm9 chord on the piano, and you can use that knowledge to build any other minor ninth chord!

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