Daug9 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 Daug9 — shell 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.
Daug9 notes and formula
| D | F# | A# | C | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | ♯5 | ♭7 | 9 |
Altered dominant — dominant pull with a whole-tone colour.
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
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.
Daug9 has 6 of them, on the middle four strings, the top four strings, the bottom four strings, strings 5-3-2-1 and strings 6-4-3-2, from the 4th fret up to the 11th — all in one inversion, so the bass note never moves. The one to learn first is the D shape at the 4th fret, which is the easiest grip here.
Start with x70576 — no barre and 1 open string. None of the shapes for Daug9 uses an open string, so every one of them is movable; the lowest sits at the 2nd fret. 4 of the 9 need a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 2nd fret to the 15th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 232332 | 2nd fret | F#, 1st inversion | F# | barred |
| x54556 | 4th fret | D, root position | A# | barred |
| x70576 | 5th fret | E, 9th in the bass | A# | 1 open string |
| 878778 | 7th fret | C, 3rd inversion | C | barred |
| 10-9-10-9-11-x | 9th fret | D, root position | A# | all fretted |
| 10-x-10-11-11-0 | 10th fret | D, root position | A# | 1 open string |
| 10-x-10-11-11-12 | 10th fret | D, root position | E | all fretted |
| x-x-10-11-11-12 | 10th fret | C, 3rd inversion | E | all fretted |
| 14-15-14-15-15-14 | 14th fret | F#, 1st inversion | F# | barred |
The same notes rebuilt from scratch give 13 rootless and 1 open string voicings, each on its own page.
Tensions. A shell of Daug9, root, third and seventh, leaves a string free, and the tones that belong over it are the #11 (G#).
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.
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 a flat ninth), Daug7 (drop the ninth), D9 (the sharp fifth becomes a fifth) or D9b5 (the sharp fifth becomes a flat fifth).
Daug9 is an altered chord — a dominant seventh with its fifth or ninth moved. Altered dominant chords on every root.
On Daug9’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.