Guitar · seventh sharp nine
A♭7♯9 Chord on Guitar
Ab Dominant 7♯9 (Hendrix) is Ab, C, Eb, Gb, B — the 1-3-5-b7-#9 pattern of a seventh sharp nine chord. Here is the shape, the audio, and what usually goes wrong.
There is no open Ab7#9 on guitar — the single shape below is a barre, which is exactly why this chord trips people up. Take it slowly and check every string.
Start here — E Shape Barre (Hendrix) (4th fret)
Barre at fret 4 — harder to hold than an open shape, but movable: slide it and you have every other seventh sharp nine chord.
What beginners get wrong
Moving in and out of it
The shape above: E Shape Barre (Hendrix) (4th fret) — barred at fret 4.
Listening: each shape above has its own play button, and each one plays the notes that shape actually produces — not a generic triad.
Ab7#9 on other instruments
Same notes, different hands. Every link below is a real page with diagrams and audio.
Or see Ab Dominant 7♯9 (Hendrix) on every instrument at once.
Chords next door
Same root, different colour — and all of them playable on guitar.
Ab7#9 on Guitar — questions people ask
What is the easiest way to play Ab7#9 on guitar?
“E Shape Barre (Hendrix) (4th fret)” — which we rate advanced — is the easiest Ab7#9 shape on guitar. Barre at fret 4 — harder to hold than an open shape, but movable: slide it and you have every other seventh sharp nine chord. There is no open Ab7#9 on guitar, so a barre is unavoidable; this is the least demanding one.
What notes are in the Ab Dominant 7♯9 (Hendrix) chord?
Ab Dominant 7♯9 (Hendrix) is Ab, C, Eb, Gb, B — the 1-3-5-b7-#9 interval pattern of a seventh sharp nine chord. Every voicing on this page uses those notes and nothing else; they just appear in a different order and octave.
What can I play instead of Ab7#9?
The nearest stand-ins on guitar that keep the same root are Ab5, Absus4, Absus2. They keep the root and the fifth and only change what sits in the middle, so most songs still work — but check the swap against the melody, because the note you removed may be the one the tune is singing.
Can I play Ab7#9 on other instruments?
Yes. Ab7#9 is the same set of notes everywhere; only the fingering changes. This site has diagrams and audio for it on piano.
Learn the theory behind Ab7#9
The shape gets your fingers there. These explain why it sounds the way it does.
Barre Chords — The Wall Every Guitarist Climbs
This one asks for a barre. The article is the fix for the buzzing and the aching hand.
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Functional Harmony: Three Roles, One Engine
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The 12-Bar Blues — Three Chords, A Century of Hits
Seventh chords are the whole sound of the blues. Twelve bars is where to hear it.
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