Beginner Guitar Lesson 31 - The 7 #9 Chord

Remember when we learned the blues turnaround a while back? Well, this time we’re going to learn another blues feature that uses a new chord. Our blues is still going to be in the key of E, but the new chord that we learn is going to be a C7#9. Sounds complicated with its dual numbers, but it really isn’t, I promise!

Our blues are still going to be in the key of E, but the new chord that we learn is going to be a C7#9. Although the dual numbers might be intimidating, it really isn't complicated. Let’s look at the theory behind the 7#9 chord.

Below is the note order and note number names for a regular C major scale with the extended notes in light blue. The asterisks mark the notes in a regular major 7 chord with an added 9th. As you can see 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 or C E G B D

C D E F G A B C D E F G A

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

To make a C7#9 we have to flatten the 7th (by one fret or semitone) and raise the 9th again by one fret. So now we’ll have C E G Bb (flat) D# (sharp), our C7#9 chord. Here’s an easy way to play it. First voice a B7 chord, then move it all up one fret. Now you’re playing a C7 chord.

Next, move your 4th finger (pinky) from the third fret of the high E string to the 4th fret of the B string to give you a D#... the #9th of C. Now strum through the chord from the A string through to the B string (don’t hit the E strings or it’ll sound messy).

Here's what it looks like:

 

Sounds funky doesn’t it? Jimi Hendrix uses this chord in his famous song “Foxy Lady,” except that he was playing an E7#9 (which has its root note on the 7th fret of the A string).

Once you’ve played the C7#9, move exactly the same shape down one fret to play a B7#9. That movement is going to form part of our new blues turnaround.

Ok, now let’s incorporate those chords into the blues progression. Below illustrates the structure of the chord sequence where the red denotes the chords played on the first beat of the bar, and the numbers denote the remaining beats in the bar.The blues turnaround is the same as the one we learned previously, only this time we land on the B7#9 chord by sliding down from the C7#9 chord.

E7 2 3 4 A7 2 3 4 E7 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 A7 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 E7 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

C7#9 2 3 4 B7#9 2 3 4 E7 blues turnaround. C7#9－ B7#9 2 3 4

The video example provides some interesting finger style playing and some walking bass lines on the turnaround too, which makes up some of the content for coming lessons! In the meantime, keep practicing as usual and see if you can figure out what our guitarist was doing in this video. Then you'll be a step ahead for future lessons.