B♭add9

B♭1D3F5C9

A major triad with a ninth added and no seventh — which is what tells it apart from a ninth chord.

Written the other way round it is A♯add9 — the same twelve keys on a piano, a different piece of notation.

on ukulele on piano the scale

Every fingering that fits a hand

Fig. 2

x10311

moderate

Fig. 3

x1031x

open · no 5

Fig. 4

63036x

hard

Fig. 5

63056x

hard

Fig. 6

63033x

hard · no 5

What is true of it

B♭add9 is B♭, D, F and C — 1, 3, 5 and 9 counted from B♭.

On an instrument that cannot reach all 4, the 5 goes first, in that order.

The easiest of the 5 fingerings below is x10311: 4 fingers, held at the 1st fret.

1 of them use open strings, which is what makes a shape quiet to change to.

1 string stays silent.

Where its notes are on the neck

Fig. 7 — first 12 frets

The brass dots are B♭, the root. Everything else is a chord tone with its degree printed in it.

With a different note underneath

first inversion

B♭add9/D

xx0311

second inversion

B♭add9/F

11031x

third inversion

B♭add9/C

x3333x

An inversion is the same chord with a different note lowest. The name changes to a slash name because the bass is what a listener hears as the foundation.

B♭ in other shapes

B♭9dominant ninth B♭maj9major ninth B♭m9minor ninth B♭major B♭mminor B♭dimdiminished

Cadd9 C♯add9 D♭add9 Dadd9 D♯add9 E♭add9 Eadd9 Fadd9 all 374