Arpeggio · A♭△9 · Guitar
The A♭△9 arpeggio is A♭ – C – E♭ – G – B♭ — chord tones 1 3 5 7 9. A♭△9 is a lush tonic chord in ballads; its sound is wide, luminous. Below, every A♭, C, E♭, G, B♭ on the fretboard is marked, with the root in gold. Press play to hear a one-octave arpeggio, or tap any note.
Visualizer
Guitar · standard tuning
Piano
Play loops the arpeggio up and down one octave (switch Loop off for a single pass) in the position starting at fret 4. Tap any marked note to hear it. “Show” switches or combines the fretboard and keyboard; “Sound” picks the instrument you hear. Audio is synthesized in the browser.
Reference
| Chord tone | Note | Interval from A♭ |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | A♭ | unison (0 semitones) |
| 3 | C | major 3rd (4 semitones) |
| 5 | E♭ | perfect 5th (7 semitones) |
| 7 | G | major 7th (11 semitones) |
| 9 | B♭ | major 2nd + octave (14 semitones) |
Goes with: A♭ Major (Ionian) (A♭ B♭ C D♭ E♭ F G). Voicings: see the four-note chord voicings in the chord library.
Common questions
A♭ – C – E♭ – G – B♭. As chord tones: 1 3 5 7 9. Played one after another instead of together, that is the arpeggio.
A♭△9 is a lush tonic chord in ballads. Its character is wide, luminous.
A♭ Major (A♭ B♭ C D♭ E♭ F G) — the arpeggio is the skeleton of that scale, so practise them together.
Start on the root A♭ on the low E string at fret 4 and play E-string fret 4, E-string fret 6, E-string fret 8, A-string fret 6, D-string fret 5, D-string fret 6. Then play it descending, then in eighth notes with a metronome, then over the a lush tonic chord in ballads.
Keep going
Same arpeggio on piano · Major 9th hub · chord-scale theory.
Other arpeggios from A♭