Ninths
G♭ dominant 7th sharp 9 chord
The “Hendrix chord” — gritty, with major and minor 3rds clashing.
- Notes
- G♭B♭D♭F♭A
- Formula
- 135♭7♯9
- Built from
- root · major 3rd · perfect 5th · minor 7th · augmented 9th
How to play G♭7♯9
About the G♭ dominant 7th sharp 9 chord
Playing it
On guitar, G♭7♯9 has an open-position shape, 2023x0, using three fingers alongside the open strings. Don’t strum the B string.
On piano, G♭7♯9 has three black keys (G♭, B♭ and D♭) and two 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 G♭7♯9 shape is 3100, using two fingers. It leaves out the root, which a bass player (or your ear) fills in.
Related chords
Move a single note and G♭7♯9 becomes a different chord: drop the A for G♭7, drop the B♭ for G♭m7, lower A to A♭ for G♭9 and swap B♭ for A♭ for G♭m9.
Where you’ll hear it
Notice the F♭ in G♭7♯9 (G♭ B♭ D♭ F♭ A): each note of the chord takes its own letter (G–B–D–F–A), so the minor 7th has to be written F♭ rather than E — the same key on a piano, spelled to fit the chord.
