Guitar · seventh flat nine
E7♭9 Chord on Guitar
E Dominant 7♭9 is E, G#, B, D, F — the 1-3-5-b7-b9 pattern of a seventh flat nine chord. There are 2 ways to play it on guitar, ranked below from easiest to hardest.
Good news: E7b9 has an open shape on guitar, so you can play it without barring anything. Start there and work up the neck later.
Start here — E Shape Barre (1st fret)
Open shape — open strings ring right through it and there is nothing to barre. If you only learn one, learn this one.
Easier ways to play it — 2 shapes, easiest first
Same chord in all of them. What changes is how much your hand has to do and where on the neck it sits.
E Shape Barre (1st fret) Way 1 of 2
E Shape Barre (1st fret)
Easiest here· advanced· the standard shape
Open shape — open strings ring right through it and there is nothing to barre. If you only learn one, learn this one.
Movable Root-5 Shape (6th fret) Way 2 of 2
Movable Root-5 Shape (6th fret)
advanced
Sits at fret 6 — tighter and brighter than the low shapes, and high enough to keep out of the way of anyone playing the open version underneath.
What beginners get wrong
Moving in and out of it
The shape above: E Shape Barre (1st fret) — open position, so several strings ring unfretted.
Listening: each shape above has its own play button, and each one plays the notes that shape actually produces — not a generic triad.
E7b9 on other instruments
Same notes, different hands. Every link below is a real page with diagrams and audio.
Chords next door
Same root, different colour — and all of them playable on guitar.
E7b9 on Guitar — questions people ask
What is the easiest way to play E7b9 on guitar?
“E Shape Barre (1st fret)” — which we rate advanced — is the easiest E7b9 shape on guitar. Open shape — open strings ring right through it and there is nothing to barre. If you only learn one, learn this one.
What notes are in the E Dominant 7♭9 chord?
E Dominant 7♭9 is E, G#, B, D, F — the 1-3-5-b7-b9 interval pattern of a seventh flat nine chord. Every voicing on this page uses those notes and nothing else; they just appear in a different order and octave.
How many ways can you play E7b9 on guitar?
This page has 2 E7b9 voicings for guitar, ranked from easiest to hardest: E Shape Barre (1st fret), Movable Root-5 Shape (6th fret). They all sound like E7b9; the differences are how hard they are to hold and how high they sit.
What can I play instead of E7b9?
The nearest stand-ins on guitar that keep the same root are Esus4, Esus2, E. 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 E7b9 on other instruments?
Yes. E7b9 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 E7b9
The shape gets your fingers there. These explain why it sounds the way it does.