F#9b5 guitar chord
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About F#9b5 — shell voicings
F#9b5 keeps the natural 9th of , but lowers its 5th to : F#, A#, C, E and G#.
Keep the flat 5th audible. F#9b5 is not with a flat 9th; the 9th is still natural.
Also written F#9(b5), F#9-5 or F#9♭5.
What is a shell voicing
Root, 3rd and 7th. The 3rd and 7th set the quality; the 5th adds nothing, so it goes. That frees a string for a tension.
How to use F#9b5
F#9b5 is a dominant with its tension raised, so it still points at — harder than a plain seventh does. A plain dominant has two voices a semitone from home; an altered one has four, because every altered tone is also sitting a semitone from a note of B. More voices leaning the same way is all "more tension" means here.
In a phrase:→→
The ii–V–I of B.
Voice by voice, F#9b5 → . 3 voices move by a semitone, and one note is common to both chords. Those semitones are what the ear follows; the rest is the chord rearranging itself underneath.
| In F#9b5 | Moves | In B |
|---|---|---|
| F#, the root | stays where it is | F#, the fifth |
| A#, the major third | rises a semitone | B, the root |
| C, the flat fifth | falls a semitone | B, the root |
| E, the flat seventh | falls a semitone | D#, the major third |
| G#, the ninth | falls a whole tone | F#, the fifth |
What to play over F#9b5
Useful scales
- +D
Contains F#9b5 and adds sharp fifth.
- +C#D#
Adds fifth and thirteenth, for a dominant sharp-eleventh color.
Chords near F#9b5
Remove a note
Change one note
3rd inversion 3rd inversion open strings open strings
The common shapes and the derived voicings come from different places, and both are explained in how this site is built.