“Tools to name the weird and wonderful chords you may encounter on the fretboard”: Demystifying chord names, starting with a Hendrix and SRV favorite, the maj9

When naming complex extended chords, there are various conventions and abbreviations. These are helpful when reading or writing a chord chart, but can seem like mysterious jargon to the uninitiated.

The aim of this article is to demystify some of these terms and give you tools to name the weird and wonderful chords you may encounter on the fretboard. The maj9 chord is a helpful example because it demonstrates how a complex extended chord can be described in concise terms.

Let’s reverse-engineer a maj9 chord to start with: Root-3rd-5th-7th-9th. The ‘maj’ in maj9 refers to the 7th, though this is indeed a major chord. A minor chord with a maj7 is possible (see Example 5 for Amin/maj9), but maj9 is shorthand for a maj7 chord with a 9th.

A regular 9th chord is: Root-3rd-5th-b7th-9th (eg, A9, B9 and so on). As you can see, it contains a flat (not major) 7th. 9th chords are a common sight on chord charts, but it turns out they have an even more abbreviated name…

Example 1. Amaj9

Though this Amaj9 features the open fifth string as its root, this can be omitted to move to any key – albeit relying on the bass or another instrument to provide the root.

It isn’t always easy to visualise the structure on the fretboard, but the 5th (E), 9th (B), 3rd (C#) and major 7th (G#) appear on the fourth through to first strings respectively.

Example 2. Emaj9

A little bit of a stretch at first, this Emaj9 can be moved to other keys, but you’ll need to mute the sixth (E) string and let another instrument carry the root.

Moving down through the fifth to second strings, we find the 5th (B), 9th (F#), 3rd (G#) and maj7th (D#).

Example 3. Cmaj9

Much loved by Stevie Ray Vaughn, this maj9 shape (in this case, C) is movable to any key, complete with root.

Raking through the fifth to second strings, we find the root (C), 3rd (E), maj7th (B) and 9th (D). The 5th is omitted, which is quite common practice in extended chords, especially on the guitar.

Example 4. Amaj9

Here’s another maj9 voicing you may find useful. In this key (A), we can use the fifth string as the root, but to move to other keys you’ll need another instrument to cover this.

Having said that, you may find in a solo performance that the other chords will give sufficient context.

Example 5. Am/maj9

Adding a maj7th and a 9th to a minor chord/triad gives the infamous ‘Bond theme’ style min/maj9. The only difference between this Amin/maj9 and the Amaj9 in Example 4 is that the 3rd (coincidentally, played on the third string) is flattened here to C natural, the minor 3rd, hence the name.