Bbaug9 guitar chord
An open string left ringing against a fretted grip. Because it costs no finger, it sounds a note the closed shape has none left for -- a tension on top, or a pedal root underneath. Either a familiar grip with open strings added, or a shape so sparse the open strings carry the chord. These belong to their key rather than to a shape, so D, A, G and E have many and Eb a handful.
- Tap a note to hear it
- Arrows change position
- Fingers, notes or intervals
- Play the chord
About Bbaug9 — open string voicings
Bbaug9 is Bb, D, F#, Ab and C — Bb7 with the fifth raised and the natural ninth added on top.
It sounds bright, tense and slightly unreal. Raising the fifth leaves no semitone in the lower half of the chord, which is where the whole-tone flavour comes from.
Bbaug9 notes and formula
| Bb | D | F# | Ab | C |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | ♯5 | ♭7 | 9 |
Altered dominant — dominant pull with a whole-tone colour.
Also written Bb9#5, Bb+9 or Bb9(#5). The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play Bbaug9
An open string left ringing against a fretted grip. It costs no finger, so it can sound a note the closed shape has none left for: a tension on top, or a pedal root underneath.
These belong to their key rather than to a shape: they cannot be moved up the neck. D, A, G and E have many; E♭ has a handful.
Bbaug9 has 1 of them, only on strings 5-4-3-2-1, all of them at the 5th fret — all in one inversion, so the bass note never moves. The one to learn first is the D shape at the 5th fret, which is the easiest grip here.
Start with xx6778 — no barre. 1 of the 7 shapes here sits in open position. 4 of the 7 need a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 1st fret to the 14th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| x10112 | open position | Bb, root position | F# | barred |
| 434334 | 3rd fret | Ab, 3rd inversion | Ab | barred |
| 65657x | 5th fret | Bb, root position | F# | all fretted |
| 6x6778 | 6th fret | Bb, root position | C | all fretted |
| xx6778 | 6th fret | Ab, 3rd inversion | C | all fretted |
| 10-11-10-11-11-10 | 10th fret | D, 1st inversion | D | barred |
| x-13-12-13-13-14 | 12th fret | Bb, root position | F# | barred |
The same notes rebuilt from scratch give 8 shell and 14 rootless voicings, each on its own page.
Tensions. A shell of Bbaug9, root, third and seventh, leaves a string free, and the tones that belong over it are the #11 (E).
How to use Bbaug9
Bbaug9 is a dominant with its tension raised, so it still points at Eb — harder than a plain seventh does, because the altered tones sit a semitone from where they are going.
Voice by voice, Bbaug9 → Eb. 3 voices move by a semitone, and one note is common to both chords.
| In Bbaug9 | Moves | In Eb |
|---|---|---|
| Bb, the root | stays where it is | Bb, the fifth |
| D, the major third | rises a semitone | Eb, the root |
| F#, the sharp fifth | rises a semitone | G, the major third |
| Ab, the flat seventh | falls a semitone | G, the major third |
| C, the ninth | falls a whole tone | Bb, the fifth |
What to play over Bbaug9
Every note of Bbaug9 is in Bb whole tone.
Chords near Bbaug9
Change one note of Bbaug9 and you have Bbalt (the ninth becomes a flat ninth), Bbaug7 (drop the ninth), Bb9 (the sharp fifth becomes a fifth) or Bb9b5 (the sharp fifth becomes a flat fifth).
Bbaug9 is an altered chord — a dominant seventh with its fifth or ninth moved. Altered dominant chords on every root.
On Bbaug9’s sound and use this page follows Mark Levine, The Jazz Theory Book (Sher Music, 1995). The shapes and the derived voicings come from different places, and both are explained in where the chords and the theory come from.