B dominant 7th sharp 9 chord

Playing it

On guitar, B7♯9 has an open-position shape, x2024x, using three fingers alongside the open strings. Don’t strum the low E and high E strings.

On piano, B7♯9 has two black keys (D♯ and F♯) and three white keys. In root position it spans more than an octave, so many pianists play the root with the left hand and the rest with the right.

On ukulele the usual B7♯9 shape is 4355, using four fingers.

Related chords

Move a single note and B7♯9 becomes a different chord: drop the C𝄪 for B7, drop the D♯ for Bm7, lower C𝄪 to C♯ for B9 and swap D♯ for C♯ for Bm9.

Where you’ll hear it

Notice the C𝄪 in B7♯9 (B D♯ F♯ A C𝄪): each note of the chord takes its own letter (B–D–F–A–C), so the augmented 9th has to be written C𝄪 rather than D — the same key on a piano, spelled to fit the chord.