Chord Shapes

Dominant 7th Sharp 5 Sharp 9th

Intervals: 1-3-#5-b7-#9. One of the most saturated altered dominants: the #5 leans upwards, the #9 leans towards resolution, and the core tritone still demands movement. This chord is strongly associated with the altered scale (7th mode of melodic minor) and with late bebop and modern jazz vocabulary. It is particularly effective on V chords that resolve to minor tonics, where the #9 can resolve to the minor 3rd and the #5 to the 3rd or 5th of the tonic. Use it at climactic moments where you want the dominant to feel like it is about to “burst” into the following chord.