G7#9 guitar chord

3rd inversion · F in the bass
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About G7#9 — 3rd inversion

G7#9 holds the major 3rd and in the same dominant chord: G, B, D, F and A#. The two notes sound a semitone apart.

The major 3rd stays essential. In blues, 7♯9 can stand on the tonic itself as well as lead to another chord.

Also written G7(#9), G7+9 or G7♯9.

G7#9 3rd inversion guitar chord diagram: G, B, D, F, A#, played xx3436
G7#9 3rd inversion guitar chord voicing: x-x-3-4-3-6.

What 3rd inversion means

G7#9 in 3rd inversion puts F in the bass instead of G, 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.

One of G7#9’s 11 shapes does this:xx3436

How to use G7#9

1The bluesy tonic

I7 – IV7 – I7 in a blues

G7#9 can replace a plain seventh chord wherever a bluesy sound is wanted, even as the first chord of a tune, where other altered dominants don’t belong. It sounds like home, with no urge to fall a fifth.

Listen for: The sharp nine, a minor third sounding over the major third, holds through the IV7 as its flat seventh.

Other uses

From the books, without a worked example
  • As an altered V
    V in C major

    Like the other altered dominants, G7#9 works in front of a chord a fourth higher, such as Cmaj7, a chord a half step lower, or a minor chord on its own root.

    1. G7#9
    2. Cmaj7

What to play over G7#9

Useful scales

Every scale

Chords near G7#9

Remove a note

Change one note

  • 1st inversion
    9th in bass
    B → A

    Replace the major third with the ninth.

    See Gm9 chord →
  • 3rd inversion
    3rd inversion
    D → Eb

    Raise the fifth to the flat thirteenth.

    See Galt chord →
  • A# → A

    Lower the sharp ninth to the ninth.

    See G9 chord →
  • A# → Ab

    Replace the sharp ninth with the flat ninth.

    See G7b9 chord →

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.

Midi Settings

7.5
Play Style
One pass of the pick from the lowest string up, everything left ringing.
Instrument
350
150

Style

Shows each chord the way this style would voice it, and marks which of its alternatives belong to the idiom.

Layout

Left Handed Mode