Chord Shapes

Dominant 7th Flat 5 Sharp 9th

Intervals: 1-3-b5-b7-#9. This altered dominant sits between the diminished-based 7b9 sound and the bluesier #9 sound. The #9 (enharmonic to a minor 3rd above the root) clashes against the major 3rd, while the b5 thins out the chord’s core. The result is a dominant that is both bitter and expressive, ideal in bebop and hard-bop language where the altered tensions outline super-Locrian or diminished/whole-tone scalar material. Use it as V7alt resolving to major or minor; the #9 often resolves up to the 3rd or down to the 9th of the tonic, and the b5 typically resolves by semitone to a more stable chord tone in the destination chord.