A ninth chord is formed by adding a ninth to a seventh chord.

The most common ninth chords are built over the dominant seventh chord in both major and minor keys. Because the ninth formed is major in major keys and minor in minor keys, these chords are called dominant major ninth and dominant minor ninth.

Dominant major 9th
Dominant minor 9th
 

Ninth chords can also be built on minor seventh and major seventh chords:

Minor 7th, major 9th
Major 7th, major 9th
 

The augmented or sharp ninth chord is obtained by adding an augmented ninth interval to a dominant seventh chord. In many cases, the ninth interval is simplified enharmonically. In these cases, the chord appears as a dominant ninth chord with a major and minor third:

dominant 7th, augmented 9th
 

We find an augmented ninth chord in Chopin's Prelude 4:

Chopin

See C > Chord for related entries.




Search   •    Write to us


Creative Commons License
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
José Rodríguez Alvira.