Minor 6/9
m6/9
0 - 3 - 7 - 9 - 14Minor + 6th + 9th
About Minor 6/9
A minor six-nine chord is a minor triad with a major sixth and a ninth added and no seventh — in C that is C, E♭, G, A and D, written Cm6/9. It is the minor-key equivalent of the chord that ends jazz arrangements: dark, complete, and without a single note that wants to move.
Notes and formula
The formula is 1 – ♭3 – 5 – 6 – 9, or 0 – 3 – 7 – 9 – 14 in semitones. The sixth is major even though the triad is minor, exactly as in the plain minor sixth chord.
No seventh means no tension. The chord contains a minor third, a perfect fifth, a major sixth and a major ninth, and none of those intervals creates a pull.
How to play it
On guitar the standard form is x–3–1–2–3–3, sounding C–E♭–A–D–G. It is the six-nine grip with one finger moved, which makes the pair easy to learn together.
On piano the chord tolerates close voicing better than most five-note chords, because its widest friction is a whole tone.
What it is for
Ending a minor piece. A minor seventh at the end sounds unfinished, a plain minor triad sounds bare, and this chord sounds like a decision — which is why arrangers have used it as the final bar of minor-key charts for eighty years.
It also serves as a static tonic in modal writing, where the raised sixth makes the mode audible without any melody having to state it.
Why the sixth is major
Because the chord comes from Dorian. The raised sixth is the degree that separates that mode from the natural minor scale, and putting it inside the tonic chord declares the mode outright.
Lower it and the chord stops being this one: a minor triad with a minor sixth is normally heard, and normally written, as an inversion of a major chord instead.
Against the minor thirteenth
Cm13 has the same raised sixth and the same ninth, plus a flattened seventh underneath. That seventh is the whole difference: with it the chord loops, without it the chord closes.
Arrangers use the pair deliberately — vamp on the thirteenth, land on the six-nine.
Scales that contain it
Dorian, and effectively only Dorian. Aeolian lowers the sixth and contradicts the chord's defining note; Phrygian lowers the second and contradicts its ninth.
The minor pentatonic does not fit either, since it contains a flattened seventh and no sixth. Over this chord the useful five-note scale is the major pentatonic built on the flattened third — E♭ major pentatonic over Cm6/9 lands on every chord tone.
Frequently asked questions
What notes are in a Cm6/9 chord?
C, E♭, G, A and D. On guitar, x–3–1–2–3–3.
Why does it sound final?
There is no seventh, so nothing in the chord creates tension. Every interval is a consonance, and the ear reads that as arrival.
How is it different from Cm13?
Cm13 adds a flattened seventh under the same top notes. That one note turns a closing chord into one that can loop indefinitely.