Ebaug9 guitar chord
The standard grips this chord is usually shown with.
- Tap a note to hear it
- Arrows change position
- Fingers, notes or intervals
- Play the chord
About Ebaug9 — 3rd inversion
Ebaug9 is Eb, G, B, Db and F — Eb7 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.
Ebaug9 notes and formula
| Eb | G | B | Db | F |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | ♯5 | ♭7 | 9 |
Also written Eb9#5, Eb+9 or Eb9(#5). The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play Ebaug9
Ebaug9 in 3rd inversion puts Db in the bass instead of Eb, the 7th of the chord. The notes are the same; what changes is what the bass line does, which is most of why you would reach for it — it lets the lowest voice move by step where the root would have jumped.
2 of Ebaug9’s 7 common shapes do this:989889x-x-11-12-12-13
Play Ebaug9 as a shell — root, third and seventh — and the spare string takes the #11 (A).
All 7 common shapes as fret numbers, lowest string first. Hover or tap one to see it drawn.
- 343443, 3rd fret, G, 1st inversion, top note G, barred
- x65667, 5th fret, Eb, root position, top note B, barred
- 989889, 8th fret, Db, 3rd inversion, top note Db, barred
- 11-10-x-10-0-9, 9th fret, Eb, root position, top note Db, 1 open string
- 11-10-11-10-12-x, 10th fret, Eb, root position, top note B, all fretted
- 11-x-11-12-12-13, 11th fret, Eb, root position, top note F, all fretted
- x-x-11-12-12-13, 11th fret, Db, 3rd inversion, top note F, all fretted
How to use Ebaug9
Ebaug9 is a dominant with its tension raised, so it still points at Ab — harder than a plain seventh does, because the altered tones sit a semitone from where they are going.
In a phrase:Bbm7→Ebaug9→Abmaj7— the ii–V–I of Ab.
Voice by voice, Ebaug9 → Ab. 3 voices move by a semitone, and one note is common to both chords.
| In Ebaug9 | Moves | In Ab |
|---|---|---|
| Eb, the root | stays where it is | Eb, the fifth |
| G, the major third | rises a semitone | Ab, the root |
| B, the sharp fifth | rises a semitone | C, the major third |
| Db, the flat seventh | falls a semitone | C, the major third |
| F, the ninth | falls a whole tone | Eb, the fifth |
What to play over Ebaug9
Every note of Ebaug9 is in Eb whole tone.
Chords near Ebaug9
Change one note of Ebaug9 and you have Ebalt (the ninth becomes the flat ninth), Ebaug7 (drop the ninth), Eb9 (the sharp fifth becomes the fifth) or Eb9b5 (the sharp fifth becomes the flat fifth).
Ebaug9 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.