Ab9 chord

Ab9 chord for guitar with diagrams, fingerings and notes.

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Description and theory

The Ab9 is a dominant chord and equivalent to G sharp 9th. It consists of five notes, though depending on the instrument, some notes may be doubled or tripled. Since all the chord notes are absent among the open strings in standard tuning, there are no simple fingerings in open positions. Because of that, the chord is mostly played in closed positions or as a barre chord.

Chord structure

The chord consists of five notes. The notes represent the root, major third, perfect fifth, minor seventh and major ninth intervals. Notice that the third or the fifth is sometimes omitted.

Chord name

Ab9 is an abbreviation for A flat dominant ninth. A less common abbreviation is Abdom9.

Notes

The notes that the Ab9 chord consists of are Ab, C, Eb, Gb and Bb.

Inversions

1st inversion: Ab9/C (means that C is the bass note).
2nd inversion: Ab9/Eb (means that Eb is the bass note).
3rd inversion: Ab9/Gb (means that Gb is the bass note).
4th inversion: Ab9/Bb (means that Bb is the bass note).

Omissions

Ab9(no3) is an A flat dominant 9th with no third (C).
Ab9(no5) is an A flat dominant 9th with no fifth (Eb).

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