Tonelab · Harmony

The 7♯9 Shape. Eight Progressions

One voicing, root on the A string, and everything you can hang off it. Every grip below is verified against the fretboard; slide the shape and the whole set moves with it.

The chord is E7♯9: root, major third, flat seventh, sharp ninth. The major third and the sharp ninth (an enharmonic minor third) sit a semitone-and-octave apart, and that clash is the whole sound.

Low E muted or thumbed. Top E left off. Fret it loosely so the top two strings can bend and slide.

x 7 6 7 8 xE · G♯ · D · G
7♯9 shape resolution / home push chord everything else

Foxy I – ♭VII – IV

E · the shape on two of the three chords

Loop it. Slide into each 7♯9 from a fret below and let the A9 breathe for a full bar before the return.

Dominant-only twelve bar

E · every chord is a dominant, so the ♯9 never sounds wrong

The A9 and B9 grips share the same interior feel as the ♯9 shape, so the hand barely reorganises between changes.

Haze riff cadence

E · barre chords for the meat, the shape for the sour landing

Two beats each on the G and A, then hang on the E7♯9. Works as well with the barres reduced to power-chord fifths if the fuzz is doing the heavy lifting.

Funk vamp — the shape against its own ninth

E · only the B string moves

Sixteenth-note scratch, mute between hits. The ♯9 to 9 move is one finger; the 13 adds the top E string at the ninth fret.

Minor-key V with a semitone push

A minor · the shape as dominant, shoved from above

The F7♯9 a fret above is a tritone-sub flavour without the theory homework: same shape, one fret up, then fall back to E and home to Am.

Chromatic descent

Wing / Stone Free territory · one fret per bar or per two beats

Nothing to relearn; the shape walks down. Try it as a four-bar intro landing on the twelve bar above.

Soul I – IV, shape as the colour chord

A · the ♯9 on IV and V rather than on I

Keep the A clean and open; save the tension for the IV and V so the shape stays a statement rather than the default.

Chromatic turnaround

E · ninths walking up into the V

Two beats each on the last three. The B♭9 to B9 slide is the whole point of the bar; lean into it and let the B9 ring.

Rig notes