C7#9 guitar chord
Root, third and seventh: the guide tones fix the quality, so the fifth is dropped. That is what leaves a string free, so pick a tension to put on top.
- Tap a note to hear it
- Arrows change position
- Fingers, notes or intervals
- Play the chord
About C7#9 — shell voicings
C7#9 is C, E, G, Bb and D# — C9 with the ninth raised a semitone.
It sounds gritty and contradictory. The minor third sounding over the major third; every guitarist knows it as the Hendrix chord.
C7#9 notes and formula
| C | E | G | Bb | D# |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 5 | ♭7 | ♯9 |
Altered dominant — dominant function with a blues third on top.
Also written C7(#9), C7+9 or C7♯9. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play C7#9
Root, third and seventh. The third and seventh, the guide tones, are what make the chord major, minor or dominant, so the fifth can go: it says nothing the symbol needs.
Three notes means a spare string, which is the real point. Put a tension on it.
C7#9 has 3 of them, on the middle four strings, the bottom four strings and the top four strings, from the 2nd fret up to the 9th — all in one inversion, so the bass note never moves. The one to learn first is the C shape at the 2nd fret, which is the easiest grip here.
Start with x3234x — no barre and down at the nut. 1 of the 9 shapes here sits in open position. 4 of the 9 need a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 2nd fret to the 11th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| x3234x | 2nd fret | C, root position | D# | all fretted |
| x35340 | open position | C, root position | E | 1 open string |
| x65556 | 5th fret | D#, 9th in the bass | Bb | barred |
| 8788xx | 7th fret | C, root position | D# | barred |
| x78888 | 7th fret | E, 1st inversion | C | barred |
| 8-10-8-9-8-11 | 8th fret | C, root position | D# | barred |
| 8-10-8-9-11-11 | 8th fret | C, root position | D# | all fretted |
| x-x-10-9-11-11 | 9th fret | C, root position | D# | all fretted |
| x-10-10-9-11-11 | 9th fret | G, 2nd inversion | D# | all fretted |
The same notes rebuilt from scratch give 14 drop 2, 9 drop 3 and 12 rootless voicings, each on its own page.
Tensions. A shell of C7#9, root, third and seventh, leaves a string free, and the tones that belong over it are the #11 (F#), the b13 (Ab) and the 13 (A).
How to use C7#9
C7#9 is a dominant with its tension raised, so it still points at F — harder than a plain seventh does, because the altered tones sit a semitone from where they are going.
Voice by voice, C7#9 → F. 2 voices move by a semitone, and one note is common to both chords.
| In C7#9 | Moves | In F |
|---|---|---|
| C, the root | stays where it is | C, the fifth |
| E, the major third | rises a semitone | F, the root |
| G, the fifth | falls a whole tone | F, the root |
| Bb, the flat seventh | falls a semitone | A, the major third |
| D#, the sharp ninth | rises a whole tone | F, the root |
What to play over C7#9
Every note of C7#9 is in C half-whole diminished.
Chords near C7#9
Change one note of C7#9 and you have Cm7 (drop the major third), Cm9 (the major third becomes a ninth), C7 (drop the minor third), C7/G (drop the minor third), C9 (the minor third becomes a ninth) or C7b9 (the minor third becomes a flat ninth).
C7#9 is an altered chord — a dominant seventh with its fifth or ninth moved. Altered dominant chords on every root.
On C7#9’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.