Skip to main content
Music Radar MusicRadar The No.1 website for musicians
Sign in
  • View Profile
  • Sign out
  • Guitar Amps
  • Plugin Week 25
  • Guitar Pedals
  • Synths
  • Guitars
  • Artist news
  • Keyboards & Pianos
  • Controllers
  • Software & Apps
  • Drums
  • More
    • Recording
    • DJ Gear
    • Acoustic Guitars
    • Bass Guitars
    • Tech
    • Tutorials
    • Reviews
    • Buying Guides
    • About Us
More
  • Plugin Week A-Z
  • You Oughta Know
  • Fake AI band
  • 95k+ free music samples
  • Wrecking Crew
Recommended reading
George Harrison
Guitar Lessons & Tutorials How to play like George Harrison on The Beatles' Abbey Road
Music theory basics: understanding intervals, and how they define the distance in pitch between two notes
Music Theory And Songwriting 10 music theory tricks every producer and songwriter should know
Circle of fifths
Music Theory And Songwriting The ultimate guide to the circle of fifths and how it can help you make better music
Ian "Shiner" Thomas of Those Damn Crows onstage playing to a festival crowd with his Gibson Les Paul. He wears a baseball cap and sunglasses.
Artists Shiner from Those Damn Crows on how to write a No.1 album and the Slipknot riff he wish he wrote
Mark Knopfler of Dire Straights performs onstage in 1985 with his red Fender Stratocaster. He wears a dark suit and a burgundy shirt with an open collar.
Artists How Mark Knopfler grew up wanting to be Jimi Hendrix until he ditched the pick and went fingerstyle
Michael Thompson
Guitarists “Then it’s how you smack it, or zing it or strum it”: Guitar legend Michael Thompson talks clean tone
Eric Clapton
Artists The Grammy-winning hit that Eric Clapton wrote to order, with a little help from Foreigner’s Mick Jones
  1. Artists
  2. Guitarists

Guitar chord vocab: Andy Summers and The Police

News
By Adrian Clark ( Guitarist ) published 3 July 2015

Add some add9 shapes to your chord phrasebook

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

Intro: beyond add9s

Intro: beyond add9s

If you've ever heard Andy Summers' work in The Police, you'll be familiar with those stretchy add9 and minor add9 shapes found in Every Breath You Take and plenty of other Police songs.

Added ninths sound great, but those shapes have become a cliché, so let us expand your chord vocab with a few variations…

Page 1 of 5
Page 1 of 5
Aadd9 la Summers

Aadd9 la Summers

Having twisted your fingers around our first shape, do you get what we mean by ‘Andy Summers chords’? This is the classic Every Breath configuration.

Page 2 of 5
Page 2 of 5
Aadd9 first inversion

Aadd9 first inversion

Simply rearranging the notes and creating a new voicing can be a great approach, especially with chords of four or more notes.

For this pleasantly shimmering shape, the lowest note is the major third, making it a first inversion. For navigational purposes, the root is on the D string.

Page 3 of 5
Page 3 of 5
Simple Am add9

Simple Am add9

Or how about going for the simplest option - a straight triad, with the 9th on top? Here’s the A minor version; to make it a standard add9, just raise the G string note by one fret.

Page 4 of 5
Page 4 of 5
Aadd9 (B string root)

Aadd9 (B string root)

Played out of context, it’s not immediately apparent what this is, but stick an A bass note underneath and it’s definitely an Aadd9, but with the root up on the B string. Lower the top E string by a fret to create the minor version.

Page 5 of 5
Page 5 of 5
Categories
Guitars
Adrian Clark
The magazine for serious players image
The magazine for serious players
Subscribe and save today!
More Info
Read more
George Harrison
How to play like George Harrison on The Beatles' Abbey Road
Music theory basics: understanding intervals, and how they define the distance in pitch between two notes
10 music theory tricks every producer and songwriter should know
Circle of fifths
The ultimate guide to the circle of fifths and how it can help you make better music
Ian "Shiner" Thomas of Those Damn Crows onstage playing to a festival crowd with his Gibson Les Paul. He wears a baseball cap and sunglasses.
Shiner from Those Damn Crows on how to write a No.1 album and the Slipknot riff he wish he wrote
Mark Knopfler of Dire Straights performs onstage in 1985 with his red Fender Stratocaster. He wears a dark suit and a burgundy shirt with an open collar.
How Mark Knopfler grew up wanting to be Jimi Hendrix until he ditched the pick and went fingerstyle
Michael Thompson
“Then it’s how you smack it, or zing it or strum it”: Guitar legend Michael Thompson talks clean tone
Latest in Guitarists
Mk.gee
Mk.gee’s collaboration with Justin Bieber has arrived on Bieber’s surprise new album, Swag
Jackson Pro Series Misha Mansoor Juggernaut HT7 and HT7P
Misha Mansoor spills blood as a home shopping TV presenter to unveil new signature Jackson 7-strings
Dickey Betts and Warren Haynes live onstage with the Allman Brothers Band in 1992. Haynes wears a patterned shit and plays his Les Paul Standard.
Warren Haynes on what Gregg Allman and Dickey Betts told him when he joined the Allman Brothers Band
Joe Trohman of Fall Out Boy plays his Zemaitis singlecut onstage in 2023.
Fall Out Boy’s Joe Trohman ruled out for rest of the year as he gets surgery on injured right hand
Vivian Campbell and Ronnie James Dio onstage in 1985 as they tour Campbell's final studio album with Dio, Sacred Heart. Campbell is playing a well-worn Charvel S-style electric guitar.
Vivian Campbell on his relationship with Ronnie James Dio – and what Dio told Ozzy about his playing
Troy Van Leeuwen of Queens of the Stone Age plays a red/orange Gretsch onstage, and is framed by a triangle of yellow-green stagelights.
“It was the most bizarre musical experience”: QOTSA’s Troy Van Leeuwen on playing Paris's Catacombs
Latest in News
Mk.gee
Mk.gee’s collaboration with Justin Bieber has arrived on Bieber’s surprise new album, Swag
Ringo Starr
Ringo Starr names his proudest moment in The Beatles
beyonce album cover
Beyonce takes to a flying golden stallion on her last few Cowboy Carter dates
Billy Joel
Billy Joel reveals the classical music origins of one of his biggest hits
Exodus Gary Holt
"It might have been like 12 people there”: Exodus’ Gary Holt pulls zero punches in his new autobiography
blur and oasis
“I am happy to accept and concede defeat”: Damon Albarn just admitted that Oasis won

MusicRadar is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

  • About Us
  • Contact Future's experts
  • Terms and conditions
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Advertise with us
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Careers

© Future Publishing Limited Quay House, The Ambury, Bath BA1 1UA. All rights reserved. England and Wales company registration number 2008885.

Please login or signup to comment

Please wait...