F Add9 Chord
The f add9 chord (Fadd9) is F, A, C, G. Play those 4 notes together and you have it.
No key contains it on its own; it goes wherever F goes.
The keyboards below are live. Press the notes and the page grades what you played, so you can check the shape without guessing, root position first, then both inversions, which is where chord playing stops sounding like exercises and starts sounding like music.
How to play Fadd9 on piano
Play the F Add9 Chord (Root Position)
Tap the highlighted keys — any order.
Right hand: fingers 1, 2, 3 and 5 on F, A, C, G, thumb on the F.
Left hand: the same notes, fingers 5, 3, 2 and 1, little finger on the F.
Press all the notes at once rather than rolling them, and listen for whether they arrive together. A chord that is nearly simultaneous is the single most common thing that makes playing sound robotic, and it is fixable in a week.
Try it on the keyboard above. Any octave counts.
Fadd9, first inversion
Play the F Add9 Chord (First Inversion)
Tap the highlighted keys — any order.
A, C, G, F: Fadd9 with the third, A, at the bottom. A chord chart writes it Fadd9/A. The outside fingers span a augmented 5th, A up to F, so the right hand takes it with fingers 1, 2, 3 and 5.
Use it when the chord before or after shares notes with it: the hand moves one or two keys instead of jumping, and the bass line steps rather than leaps. Play Fadd9/A on the keyboard above, then Fadd9 in root position, and listen to which way each one leans.
Fadd9, second inversion
Play the F Add9 Chord (Second Inversion)
Tap the highlighted keys — any order.
C, G, F, A: Fadd9 with the fifth, C, at the bottom. A chord chart writes it Fadd9/C. The outside fingers span a major 6th, C up to A, so the right hand takes it with fingers 1, 2, 3 and 5.
Use it when the chord before or after shares notes with it: the hand moves one or two keys instead of jumping, and the bass line steps rather than leaps. Play Fadd9/C on the keyboard above, then Fadd9 in root position, and listen to which way each one leans.
How the Fadd9 chord is built
Count in semitones from the root, F:
| Note | Semitones above the root | Interval |
|---|---|---|
| F | 0 | root |
| A | 4 | major 3rd |
| C | 7 | perfect 5th |
| G | 2 | major 2nd (or 9th) |
That pattern is the chord. Move the whole shape up two semitones and you have the same chord on a different root, which is why learning one quality well is worth more than memorizing twelve chords separately.
A semitone is the distance to the very next key, whether black or white. Count them on the keyboard above if the numbers do not mean much yet; they will after a few chords.
Where Fadd9 turns up
Fadd9 is F, A, C with G on top. G is the ninth: the second note of the F major scale, an octave up, fourteen semitones above the root. Nothing is taken away, so the chord goes wherever F goes (C Major, B Flat Major, F Major, A Minor) and does the same job there, with one more note in it.
Take the A out and it becomes Fsus2, F, G, C: a different chord, because sus2 has no third and add9 keeps it. The rub is between G and the F an octave below it, and between G and A a whole step away. Play F on the keyboard above, then reach the G with the little finger while the other three hold on, and that rub is what you hear.
Practicing Fadd9
Five minutes, in this order:
- Right hand, root position. F, A, C, G, played together, four times.
- Both inversions, in order, going up and then back down. Say which one you are on.
- Left hand alone, the same three steps. It is always the weaker hand and always the one people skip.
- Hands together, left hand playing just the root while the right hand plays the chord.
- Find it in a piece. A chord you have only met in isolation does not stay learned.
Do not chase speed here. A chord you can place accurately without looking is worth more than four you can nearly place quickly.