Daug9 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 Daug9 — open string voicings
Daug9 is D, F#, A#, C and E — D7 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.
Altered dominant — dominant pull with a whole-tone colour.
Daug9 notes and formula
| D | F# | A# | C | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | ♯5 | ♭7 | 9 |
Also written D9#5, D+9 or D9(#5). The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play Daug9
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.
Daug9 has 1 of them, only on strings 6-5-4-3-2-1, all of them at the 5th fret — all in one inversion, so the bass note never moves. The one to learn first is the E shape at the 5th fret, which is the easiest grip here.
Five notes and four fingers, so something has to go. Keep F# and C (they fix the quality) and A# and E (what the symbol is about). Let D go — a perfect fifth says nothing the root has not, and in a band the bass has the root.
Play Daug9 as a shell — root, third and seventh — and the spare string takes the #11 (G#).
All 9 common shapes as fret numbers, lowest string first. Hover or tap one to see it drawn.
- 232332, 2nd fret, F#, 1st inversion, top note F#, barred
- x54556, 4th fret, D, root position, top note A#, barred
- x70576, 5th fret, E, 9th in the bass, top note A#, 1 open string
- 878778, 7th fret, C, 3rd inversion, top note C, barred
- 10-9-10-9-11-x, 9th fret, D, root position, top note A#, all fretted
- 10-x-10-11-11-0, 10th fret, D, root position, top note A#, 1 open string
- 10-x-10-11-11-12, 10th fret, D, root position, top note E, all fretted
- x-x-10-11-11-12, 10th fret, C, 3rd inversion, top note E, all fretted
- 14-15-14-15-15-14, 14th fret, F#, 1st inversion, top note F#, barred
How to use Daug9
Daug9 is a dominant with its tension raised, so it still points at G — harder than a plain seventh does, because the altered tones sit a semitone from where they are going.
In a phrase:Am7→Daug9→Gmaj7— the ii–V–I of G.
Voice by voice, Daug9 → G. 3 voices move by a semitone, and one note is common to both chords.
| In Daug9 | Moves | In G |
|---|---|---|
| D, the root | stays where it is | D, the fifth |
| F#, the major third | rises a semitone | G, the root |
| A#, the sharp fifth | rises a semitone | B, the major third |
| C, the flat seventh | falls a semitone | B, the major third |
| E, the ninth | falls a whole tone | D, the fifth |
What to play over Daug9
Every note of Daug9 is in D whole tone.
Chords near Daug9
Change one note of Daug9 and you have Dalt (the ninth becomes the flat ninth), Daug7 (drop the ninth), D9 (the sharp fifth becomes the fifth) or D9b5 (the sharp fifth becomes the flat fifth).
Daug9 is an altered chord — a dominant seventh with its fifth or ninth moved. Altered dominant chords on every root.
The common shapes and the derived voicings come from different places, and both are explained in how this site is built.