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C9 Chord and CMaj9
The chord C9 (C 9th) is comprised of these notes played simultaneously:
C E G B♭ D
The “7th” chord (the four-note chord with the flatted 7th) is the underlying chord, and the “9th” note (the D) is added.
With this chord, or any chord, the arrangement of the notes can be in any order, because there’s no such thing as a low-pitched chord or a high-pitched chord. The chord remains the same chord. For example, you could play the above C9 chord on the piano as above, or you could play it like this:
C G B♭ D E
or like this:
E B♭ D G C
It’s still the same C9 chord. You’ll see why in the discussion coming up about how chords actually change.
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The chord CMaj9 (CM9 or C major 9th) is comprised of these notes:
C E G B D
This one is called a “major 9th” chord because the underlying chord is a major 7th (the chord with the natural 7th). The “9th” note (the D) is added to create the chord C major 9th.