So far we have dealt with triads and 7th chords. The dominant 9th chord is one of the most popular sounds in Blues, Jazz, R&B and Funk music. A 9th chord is created by adding the 9th (or second) degree of a major scale on top of a dominant 7th chord. The chord will then contain the 1st, 3rd, 5th, b7th and 9th degrees of a major scale. Here is the most common fingering of the 9th chord. The third finger should clearly sound the 1st, 2nd and 3rd strings. The root note is on the 5th string under the second finger.
Here is an exercise using the 9th chord. Make sure all the notes of the chord sound clearly as you play the first bar, then relax the fingers and hold the shape loosely, just touching the strings while strumming the strings in the second bar (percussive strumming).
In this example, the E9 chord is moved down one fret to become Eb9 and moved up one fret to become F9.
Here are some more commonly used 9th chord shapes. Memorize them, and then use them to play the previous examples.
E9
E9
E9