Eaug9 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 Eaug9 — open string voicings
Eaug9 is E, G#, B#, D and F# — E7 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.
Eaug9 notes and formula
| E | G# | B# | D | F# |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | ♯5 | ♭7 | 9 |
Also written E9#5, E+9 or E9(#5). The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play Eaug9
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.
Eaug9 has 4 of them, on strings 6-5-4-3-2, strings 6-4-3-2-1, strings 6-5-4-3-2-1 and strings 5-4-3-2-1, from the 3rd fret up to the 5th — every inversion the chord has: E in the bass and D in the bass. 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 G# and D (they fix the quality) and B# and F# (what the symbol is about). Let E go — a perfect fifth says nothing the root has not, and in a band the bass has the root.
Play Eaug9 as a shell — root, third and seventh — and the spare string takes the #11 (A#).
All 9 common shapes as fret numbers, lowest string first. Hover or tap one to see it drawn.
- 030132, open position, E, root position, top note F#, 2 open strings
- 054554, open position, E, root position, top note G#, barred
- 454554, 4th fret, G#, 1st inversion, top note G#, barred
- x76778, 6th fret, E, root position, top note B#, barred
- 0-9-10-9-9-10, 9th fret, E, root position, top note D, barred
- 10-9-10-9-9-10, 9th fret, D, 3rd inversion, top note D, barred
- 12-11-12-11-13-x, 11th fret, E, root position, top note B#, all fretted
- 12-x-12-13-13-14, 12th fret, E, root position, top note F#, all fretted
- x-x-12-13-13-14, 12th fret, D, 3rd inversion, top note F#, all fretted
How to use Eaug9
Eaug9 is a dominant with its tension raised, so it still points at A — harder than a plain seventh does, because the altered tones sit a semitone from where they are going.
In a phrase:Bm7→Eaug9→Amaj7— the ii–V–I of A.
Voice by voice, Eaug9 → A. 3 voices move by a semitone, and one note is common to both chords.
| In Eaug9 | 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 sharp fifth | rises a semitone | C#, the major third |
| D, the flat seventh | falls a semitone | C#, the major third |
| F#, the ninth | falls a whole tone | E, the fifth |
What to play over Eaug9
Every note of Eaug9 is in E whole tone.
Chords near Eaug9
Change one note of Eaug9 and you have Ealt (the ninth becomes the flat ninth), Eaug7 (drop the ninth), E9 (the sharp fifth becomes the fifth) or E9b5 (the sharp fifth becomes the flat fifth).
Eaug9 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.