E9 guitar chord
Playable, correctly spelled, and not how the chord is normally voiced. Right now this is the shapes that put a ninth, eleventh or thirteenth below the root.
- Tap a note to hear it
- Arrows change position
- Fingers, notes or intervals
- Play the chord
About E9 — uncommon voicings
E9 is E, G#, B, D and F# — E7 with the ninth stacked on top.
It sounds bright and full, still clearly pulling. The ninth adds height without softening the tritone underneath it, which is why funk and soul comp on this rather than on a plain 7.
Dominant — the same pull as a 7, with more colour.
E9 notes and formula
| E | G# | B | D | F# |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 5 | ♭7 | 9 |
Also written Edom9 or E dominant 9. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play E9
Five notes and four fingers, so something has to go. Keep G# and D (they fix the quality) and F# (what the symbol is about). Let B and E go, in that order — a perfect fifth says nothing the root has not, and in a band the bass has the root.
Play E9 as a shell — root, third and seventh — and the spare string takes the #11 (A#), the b13 (C) or the 13 (C#).
All 11 common shapes as fret numbers, lowest string first. Hover or tap one to see it drawn.
- 020102, open position, E, root position, top note F#, 3 open strings
- xx2132, 1st fret, E, root position, top note F#, all fretted
- 4x2432, 2nd fret, G#, 1st inversion, top note F#, all fretted
- x76777, 6th fret, E, root position, top note B, barred
- 0-9-9-9-9-10, 9th fret, E, root position, top note D, barred
- x-9-9-9-9-10, 9th fret, F#, 9th in the bass, top note D, barred
- 12-9-9-11-9-10, 9th fret, E, root position, top note D, barred
- 12-11-12-11-x-x, 11th fret, E, root position, top note F#, all fretted
- 12-14-12-11-12-14, 11th fret, E, root position, top note F#, barred
- 12-14-12-13-12-14, 12th fret, E, root position, top note F#, barred
- x-x-14-13-15-14, 13th fret, E, root position, top note F#, all fretted
How to use E9
E9 is the V of A, and that is where it goes if it goes anywhere: the third and the flat seventh are a tritone apart, and both resolve by a semitone into A.
In a phrase:Bm7→E9→Amaj7— the ii–V–I of A.
Voice by voice, E9 → A. 2 voices move by a semitone, and one note is common to both chords.
| In E9 | Moves | In A |
|---|---|---|
| E, the root | stays where it is | E, the fifth |
| G#, the major third | rises a semitone | A, the root |
| B, the fifth | falls a whole tone | A, the root |
| D, the flat seventh | falls a semitone | C#, the major third |
| F#, the ninth | falls a whole tone | E, the fifth |
In which keys. Every note of E9 belongs to F# minor (the ♭VII) and A major (the V, the dominant).
What to play over E9
Every note of E9 is in E mixolydian and E lydian dominant.
Each of those is a page: the scale across the neck, and the chords it harmonises into — which is where E9 sits in it. Every scale.
Chords near E9
Change one note of E9 and you have Emaj9 (the flat seventh becomes the major seventh), Em9 (the major third becomes the minor third), Eadd9 (drop the flat seventh), E69 (the flat seventh becomes the sixth), E7 (drop the ninth) or E9b5 (the fifth becomes the flat fifth).
E9 is a dominant chord — root, major third, fifth, minor seventh. Dominant seventh 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.