Best Guitar Chord

The add9 Chord on Guitar

Today I want to talk to you about what I think is the “Best Guitar Chord.” When I say the best chord, I mean the one I like the most in terms of sound and musicality.

In this fingerstyle guitar lesson, we will analyze this awesome guitar chord and learn how to play it on guitar using these awesome and practical acoustic guitar lessons.

Before we get started, remember that you can learn more about fingerstyle acoustic guitar by reading this article I wrote a while ago!

Let’s get started.

Best Guitar Chord Video Lesson

As always, let me start by showing you the guitar lesson here. Watch the beginning of the video several times to familiarize yourself with the guitar part, grab your guitar, and start learning.

Here’s the fingerstyle video tutorial.

The Add9 Chord

What is it, and how it looks like

The add9 chord on the guitar can be played in many different ways, and each shape will give you a different tone and vibe. The reason why I think it’s the best guitar chord is because of its shape and sound.

Let me show you the add9 guitar chord we are learning today.

As you notice from the picture, this guitar chord is pretty stretchy, and it will take a while before you can play it fluently.

Notes and Intervals

In the picture, there are three numbers. Each number is the note that we need to build the chord.

The index fingers will play the root note (number 1), the middle finger the 5th (number 5), and the little finger will play the 9th (number 9).

It is indeed a fundamental chord based on three notes.

Fingers and Stretch

The fingers we are using are the index, middle and little fingers.

• The index finger represents the root note, and it will give you the name of the chord. If you place the index finger on the 5th string, fret three, you play a Cadd9 chord.
• The middle finger will always be placed one string below, two frets up. You will probably feel the stretch between the index and middle finger at the beginning. keep practicing, and your fingers will get used to it.
• The little finger is positioned one string below the middle finger two frets up. The stretch between the index and little finger is pretty extreme, and it will take time and patience. Don’t give up!

Let me also show how the best guitar chord looks like on the diagram.

I honestly think this is one of the easiest chords to memorize as its shape is simple and symmetrical.

Time to move on to the guitar tab.

Guitar Tab

Best Guitar Chord on Guitar

Now that you are more familiar with the Add9 chord shape, it’s time to learn the fingerstyle exercise that will help you put this guitar chord into practice.

There are two steps I suggest you follow!

Step 1

Memorize the chord shape

The first step is to memorize the chord progression and the chord shape you are about to play. The cool thing about the add9 chord is that it follows the same shape no matter which chord you are playing.

The chord progression is this one: Eadd9 – C#madd9 – Aadd9 – Badd9.

You can play this chord progression using the same shape for the add9 chord and move it up and down the neck, considering each chord’s root note.

Let me show you how to do that with the chord diagrams.

Step 2

Add9 Chord and Melody

The second step will be to add the melody to the add9 chord progression you just learned. This part is more challenging as you will be playing the melody between the chords.

Let me show you the guitar tab here.

Putting it together

Few words about the exercise and how to put it together.

I highly recommend you really practice everything slowly and step by step. I know that we are always tempted to learn new things as quickly as possible but trust me, the add9 chord is pretty stretchy and challenging, so always give your left fingers the time to adjust to the stretch.

The most important thing you want to try to achieve when practicing this exercise is the Over-Ringing technique. It would help if you always let each chord ringing out nicely to give more musicality and feel to the whole thing.

Last but not least, focus a lot on dynamics and performance. As you probably notice, these lessons are not just basic exercises but rather practical short pieces. Perform them and make me the happiest!