C9 Guitar Chord

A full, rich sound. A staple chord of funk and R&B music. Automatically includes the seventh — if you don't want it, use add9. On guitar, the fifth is often omitted.

Guitar

Strings X–3–2–3–3–3

How to play the C9 chord on guitar

Read the string pattern X–3–2–3–3–3 from the low E string to the high E string. Numbers in the pattern are frets; numbers in the colored dots are left-hand fingers. X means a muted string and 0 means an open string.

6th string (low E) Do not play

5th string (A) Fret 3 · middle finger

4th string (D) Fret 2 · index finger

3rd string (G) Fret 3 · ring finger

2nd string (B) Fret 3 · little finger

1st string (high E) Fret 3 · little finger