C add9 guitar chord (Cadd9)

How to play Cadd9

Finger numbers run 1 for the index to 4 for the little finger. String names are given as players say them — the low E is the thickest string (the 6th) and the high E is the thinnest (the 1st).

1. 1st finger (index) — 2nd fret, D string
2. 2nd finger (middle) — 3rd fret, A string
3. 3rd finger (ring) — 3rd fret, B string
4. 4th finger (little) — 3rd fret, high E string

• Play open: G (3rd) — strum it without fretting anything.
• Leave out: low E (6th) — start the strum below it, or damp it with the side of the thumb.

Notes and intervals in Cadd9

Cadd9 is built from 4 notes: C, E, G and D.

• C — the root (R)
• E — the major 3rd (3)
• G — the perfect 5th (5)
• D — the added 9th (9)

Across the six strings the shape sounds C · E · G · D · G from low to high, so some notes are doubled in different octaves — that is what gives an open guitar chord its width compared with the same chord on a keyboard.

What Cadd9 is used for

Cadd9 adds a D — the 9th — on the B string to an ordinary C chord, giving it an open, chiming quality without changing what the chord does harmonically. Its real advantage is mechanical: the ring and little fingers sit at the 3rd fret of the top two strings, exactly where they already are in G, so G to Cadd9 needs only two fingers to move.

Common mistakes with Cadd9

• Leaving the C-shape index finger on the B string. In Cadd9 the B string is fretted at the 3rd fret, not the 1st.
• Muting the open G string as the little finger reaches across to the high E.
• Playing the low E. The root C is on the 5th string, so the 6th stays out of the strum.

Chords that go with Cadd9

Same-root variations first, then the chords a fourth and a fifth away — the shapes Cadd9 is most often played alongside.

• C major
• C dominant 7
• F major
• G major