B9b5 guitar chord
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About B9b5 — 9th in bass
B9b5 keeps the natural 9th of , but lowers its 5th to : B, D#, F, A and C#.
Keep the flat 5th audible. B9b5 is not with a flat 9th; the 9th is still natural.
Also written B9(b5), B9-5 or B9♭5.
What 9th in bass means
B9b5 in 9th in bass puts C# in the bass instead of B, the 9th of the chord. The notes are the same; what changes is what the bass line does, which is most of why you would reach for it — it lets the lowest voice move by step where the root would have jumped.
One of B9b5’s 8 shapes does this:x4324x
How to use B9b5
B9b5 is a dominant with its tension raised, so it still points at — harder than a plain seventh does. A plain dominant has two voices a semitone from home; an altered one has four, because every altered tone is also sitting a semitone from a note of E. More voices leaning the same way is all "more tension" means here.
In a phrase:→→
The ii–V–I of E.
Voice by voice, B9b5 → . 3 voices move by a semitone, and one note is common to both chords. Those semitones are what the ear follows; the rest is the chord rearranging itself underneath.
| In B9b5 | Moves | In E |
|---|---|---|
| B, the root | stays where it is | B, the fifth |
| D#, the major third | rises a semitone | E, the root |
| F, the flat fifth | falls a semitone | E, the root |
| A, the flat seventh | falls a semitone | G#, the major third |
| C#, the ninth | falls a whole tone | B, the fifth |
What to play over B9b5
Useful scales
- +G
Contains B9b5 and adds sharp fifth.
- +F#G#
Adds fifth and thirteenth, for a dominant sharp-eleventh color.
Chords near B9b5
Remove a note
Change one note
3rd inversion 3rd inversion
The common shapes and the derived voicings come from different places, and both are explained in how this site is built.