Eaug9 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 Eaug9 — shell 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.
Eaug9 notes and formula
| E | G# | B# | D | F# |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | ♯5 | ♭7 | 9 |
Altered dominant — dominant pull with a whole-tone colour.
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
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.
Eaug9 has 8 of them, on the top four strings, the bottom four strings, the middle four strings, strings 6-4-3-2 and strings 5-3-2-1, from open position up to the 13th — all in one inversion, so the bass note never moves. The one to learn first is the E shape at the nut, which is the easiest grip here.
Start with 030132 — no barre and 2 open strings. 2 of the 9 shapes here sit in open position. 5 of the 9 need a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 1st fret to the 14th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 030132 | open position | E, root position | F# | 2 open strings |
| 054554 | open position | E, root position | G# | barred |
| 454554 | 4th fret | G#, 1st inversion | G# | barred |
| x76778 | 6th fret | E, root position | B# | barred |
| 0-9-10-9-9-10 | 9th fret | E, root position | D | barred |
| 10-9-10-9-9-10 | 9th fret | D, 3rd inversion | D | barred |
| 12-11-12-11-13-x | 11th fret | E, root position | B# | all fretted |
| 12-x-12-13-13-14 | 12th fret | E, root position | F# | all fretted |
| x-x-12-13-13-14 | 12th fret | D, 3rd inversion | F# | all fretted |
The same notes rebuilt from scratch give 14 rootless and 4 open string voicings, each on its own page.
Tensions. A shell of Eaug9, root, third and seventh, leaves a string free, and the tones that belong over it are the #11 (A#).
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.
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 a flat ninth), Eaug7 (drop the ninth), E9 (the sharp fifth becomes a fifth) or E9b5 (the sharp fifth becomes a flat fifth).
Eaug9 is an altered chord — a dominant seventh with its fifth or ninth moved. Altered dominant chords on every root.
On Eaug9’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.