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Chord a Day, March 17th - F9
Learn a new chord everyday of March.

Category: Chords Instrument: Ukulele Subjects(s): Chords

Chord a Day, March 17th - F9

Learn a new Ukulele Chord a Day for every day of the year. The chord for March 17th is F9.

Chord a Day, March 17th - F9 Lesson Video

Naming Chords

Today's chord might also be called Am7b5, Cm6 and/or — the list can go on and on with more and more obscure chords. It all depends on the harmonic situation and the chord's harmonic function that it is being used in that determines the name of the chord. A bass player can change the function of a chord with the bass note they play, as that can be perceived as the root or letter name of the chord. Bass players have extreme harmonic powers, and they can use it for good or evil.

What's really useful is you don't have to learn a new fingering or voicing for other same shape chords when they come up. If you recognize the chord as another chord that is common in your repertoire, you can re-use it in the current context.

Anything Goes…

Here is a cool, fun exercise: *7altalt, short for alteration. This is telling you that you are free to create the seventh chord with any upper partial extension ( 9th, 11th, 13th) and any alteration(s) that you would like: ♭9, ♯9, ♯11, ♭5, ♯5, ♭13. An example would be C7alt, the base C7 is C E G Bb – the 1 3 5 ♭7. You're free to add D♭, D♯, F♯, G♭, G♯, A♭. So your possible notes available are: C D♭ D D♯ E F F♯ G♭ G G♯ A♭ B♭. Notice B, the major seventh is NOT available. So, bottom-line is — if your chord does not contain a major seventh, you can justify every other note you are playing.

So when it comes to that dominant seventh chord or tri-tone sub resolving to what would be its I chord. And, if you don't know what to play, grab any shape and go for it. You have a 1 in 12 shot of hitting that major seventh, which would be really hard to justify a B7alt — B is the major seventh.

Including the 3rd and b7 goes a long way in keeping the intent of the base 7th chord. So, you have tow more noes to muck around with — BUT NOT the major seventh. Walk over to any piano and play the two-white keys together, and you get the why.

Core 4-part, a.k.a. Jazz Chords

Today's chord, F9 is one of, or based on one of, the Big Six Core Jazz chords for creating your 4-part, contemporary chord foundation and Life Beyond the Third Fret.

Learn a New Chord Each Day!!!

This Learn a New Chord Each Day!!! series of lessons was created and published in 2013 (12 yrs ago) and has been added to an expanded ever since. 2020 brought videos to the show. 2023 brought bringing more Harmonic information.

For a further exploration of this chord and its movable forms visit the Movable Ukulele Chords Lesson Series page.

To find out even more than you would ever need to know about a F9 chord — continue reading .

Chord Type(s): Major 5-part

Chord Categories: Movable Form

ULCAD0317 Chord_grid_legand.png

Related Lesson: Understanding a Chord Diagram

Open Position chords typically do not show the location of the root or letter name of the chord, as these chords are the first chords a ukulele player learns. They are almost entirely learned by shape and sound–hopefully, the chord names. Later on, one develops the ability to determine the location of the chord root(s) or letter name within the chord.

Standard Music Notation and TAB

ULCAD0317

Standard music notation and TAB for C Tuning, Low and High G variations

The same numbering notation of TAB can be used to describe the open strings and frets to be played when using text only notation or verbal communications. Using an open position C as an example, we can describe it as 0003 indicating open strings four, three, and two with fret (3) being fingered on string one. An open position D7 indicated as 2020.

As you can see that are numerous ways to describe a chord, either verbally, Standard Music Notation , TAB , in text, graphically using a Chord Grid , etc.

Derived From

Today's chord, F9 is a derived chord from F7 . Take any chord progression with F7 in it and explore substituting F9 for F7.

View the F7 chord a day page...

Chord Spelling

Chord Spelling is simply knowing what the notes, the chord tones of a chord are.

The notes of all chords can be determined from its corresponding major scale based on the root of the chord and numeric formula.

The notes for F9 are:

F A C Eb G

The chord tones are the 1 3 5 b7 9 scale degrees of the parent F Major Scale .

Additional Information

With the root of the seventh chord displaced for the ninth. I still track the location of the implied root for transposition purposes.

In a majority of cases a ninth chord can be a direct replacement for a seventh chord with the same root.

Recommended Fingering

LH_fingersAlthough additional fingerings are possible for many chords, fingering for any given chord depends on the science of how our fingers work and on the harmonic context the chord is being used in—what was the previous chord, and what's the next chord? The goal is to play all the notes right behind the frets when possible. Remember, longer fingers can reach the lower strings better, and finger two and stack on finger three, and finger three can stack on finger four.

Although you can play any chord with any finger as long as it's yours, the recommended fingering for F9 is:

Recommended Fingering
2-3-3-3

Alternate Fingering(s)

Here are a few alternate fingerings for today’s F9 chord depending on the context the chord is being used.

Alternate fingering(s) for F9:

  • 1-3-3-3
  • 1 2 3 4

Fingering Notation

Fingering notation for a chord using text only, without using a chord grid, is typically done using the finger numbers from left to right, string four to string one (nose to toes). Here is the text notation for January 1st C chord.

A Typical text representation of a chord fingering without using a chord grid.

Note: A Zero (0) fingering notation represents an open string that doesn't require using a finger.

Fingering Chords

Additional alternate fingerings might be possible for selected chords. If there isn't an overwhelming musical reason for one fingering over another, let efficiency be the determining factor. Something as simple as longer fingers that can reach the lower strings four and three goes a long way to being efficient when switching chords.

Factors such as playing notes right behind the fret take less effort than in the middle of the fret. Less effort leads to overall efficiency in play; lower maintenance for maintaining your technique and efficiency leads to speed. This can help in determining what finger to use. Finger three can overlap finger four, and finger two can overlap finger three a little, allowing them to get closer to the fret.

Remember, the thumb's primary role is to support the fingers–not play notes. Think of the thumb as a Stagehand. He is unseen, doesn't get any lines, but is a critical member of the team.

Chord Construction, Notes and Intervals

All chords can be constructed based on their intervals relative to the major scale of the root or letter name of the chord. The individual names of the notes of the chord can also be determined from the same scale.

The chord tones for F9 are: F A C Eb G

F9 is the 1 3 5 b7 9 of the F Major Scale based on the root (F) of the chord.

7th (pronounced Seventh)

A partial seventh chord can be created by lowering the Root of a major triad two frets.

A seventh chord as a 4-part chord ( 1 3 5 b7 ) and one of the Big Six core chords used to derive other contemporary and jazz chords.

A Seventh chord along with your basic major and minor chords are the msot common chord you will encounter.

NOTE: A Seventh chord is very often referred to as a Dominant Seventh . This is not always accurate as Dominant — is a chord function and not actually part of a chord name, which is a capital letter and chord type information – not it's harmonic function. We don't call a seventh functioning as a I (one) chord in a Blues a Tonic Seventh or the IV (four) chord a Sub-Dominant Seventh chord, etc...

9th Chords

A 9th chord is a 5-part chord.

For a 5-part 9th chord, the root is implied and displaced for the ninth. Optionally the 3rd of a 7th chord can be lowered two frets (a whole step) for 1 9 5 b7. This really works if you have already played the chord with the third present and establishing the color of the chord.

To create a ninth chord raise the root of a 4-part chord two frets. This applies to a 7th, maj7, m7, 6, m6, m7b5, etc… Most all 4-part chords can be turned into ninth chords. For a 7th chord this would be a 9 3 5 b7.

This same process can be applied to a triad by raising the root two frets. For these chords they are typically called add2 or add9 chords.

Chords are pretty flexible and can be implied by containing the notes of the chord that make it different then another chord types with the same root. Take C and Cm, C is C E G and Cm is C Eb G. The third of the chord the E or Eb is a color tone and is responsible for making a major chord different sounding then a minor chord with the same root.

Next Steps

After memorizing todays F9 chord and able to switch in time with other chords. The next step is adding various Strums , Fingerpicking patterns, and exploring the Movable Chord versions of today's chord, to your ukulele skills.


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End of Lesson - Thanks, Hope You Enjoyed It!

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Reference Charts

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Ukulele Fingerboard Chart for C Tuning, Low or High G – G C E A

Ukulele Fingerboard Chart for G Tuning, Low or High A – D G B E

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