On the bass, the E7#5 chord is the 7th sharp 5th chord built from E, G#, C, D. On bass it is outlined with the arpeggio E, C, E, G# — root, 5th, root, 3rd. Keep this page open while you practise: it lists the notes, every practical voicing, the mistakes that make it sound wrong and the progressions where it does its best work.
What notes are in the E7#5 chord?
The E7#5 chord is a 7th sharp 5th chord, and its notes are fixed: E, G#, C, D. Every voicing on every instrument uses these same notes, in some order and in some octave — change one of them and you are playing a different chord. The table below lists each note with its interval from the root E, so you can see the structure of E7#5 at a glance. On the bass, the arpeggio E, C, E, G# outlines E7#5 one note at a time.
| Note | Interval |
|---|---|
| E | Root |
| G# | 3 |
| C | #5 |
| D | b7 |
The root is E, the note the chord is named after and the note your ear hears as home. Above it, the intervals in E7#5 are 3, #5, b7. That combination is what makes E7#5 sound the way it does: the intervals decide the colour, and the root decides the pitch. On the bass, the notes appear in the order the fingering dictates, but the set of notes never changes.
E7#5 sounds sharp and colourful, a dominant chord that refuses to sound ordinary. The colour is strongest when all the notes ring clearly. A muted chord tone, especially the 3rd or the 7th where the chord has one, flattens the character of E7#5 noticeably. On the bass, E7#5 is the arpeggio E, C, E, G# — root, 5th, root, 3rd — and that order is the shape to learn.
Comparing E7#5 with its closest relatives helps to fix it in your ear. In short, 7#5 against dominant 7th: E7#5 raises the 5th to C where the plain dominant 7th keeps the perfect 5th B. The raised 5th adds lift and tension at the same time. Practise the two chords back to back and listen to the one note that changes — that single note is the difference between the two chords. On the bass, E7#5 is the arpeggio E, C, E, G# — root, 5th, root, 3rd — and that order is the shape to learn.
How to play E7#5 on bass
On the bass, E7#5 is not played as a full chord shape the way it is on guitar or piano. Instead you outline it with an arpeggio: the notes E, C, E, G#, which are the chord tones of E7#5 in the order root, 5th, root, 3rd. That pattern is the working shape for this chord on bass, and it tells the listener exactly which chord is sounding, even though you never play all the notes at once.
Practise the arpeggio of E7#5 by playing E on beat one, C on beat two, E on beat three and G# on beat four, one note per beat, letting each note ring for its full value. Then play it backwards — G#, E, C, E — so your fingers learn the shape in both directions. The root E is the anchor: it is the note the rest of the band listens for, so land on it cleanly and on time, and let the 5th C and the 3rd G# colour the bar without pulling attention away from the root.
Once the straight arpeggio of E7#5 is comfortable, try playing just the root E and the 5th C for a whole bar, then add the 3rd G# on the last beat as a passing colour. That root-and-5th skeleton is how most bass lines outline E7#5 in a real song, and the full arpeggio is the version you use when the arrangement has space for it. Check the notes with the Bass Chord Finder and the Chord Finder, and practise the arpeggio against a slow metronome so the notes land exactly on the beat.
Common mistakes
These are the mistakes that most often make E7#5 sound wrong on the bass, and each one has a concrete fix. Work through them one at a time rather than trying to fix everything at once.
Using it as a tonic. E7#5 is an altered dominant. It wants to resolve to the tonic a fourth above its root. On the bass, the arpeggio E, C, E, G# outlines E7#5 one note at a time.
Voicing it too low. C low down can sound muddy. Keep the sharpened 5th in a higher octave than the root. On the bass, E7#5 is the arpeggio E, C, E, G# — root, 5th, root, 3rd — and that order is the shape to learn.
Playing the arpeggio as a chord. Strumming all the notes of E7#5 at once on bass sounds muddy and hides the root. Play the arpeggio one note at a time, let each note ring, and keep the root E as the note the listener hears first. On the bass, play E, C, E, G# and hear how the arpeggio spells out E7#5 without ever playing it as a block.
Playing a perfect 5th. If the 5th is B the chord is a plain dominant 7th. The sharpened 5th C is the note that makes it altered. On the bass, E7#5 is the arpeggio E, C, E, G# — root, 5th, root, 3rd — and that order is the shape to learn.
Where E7#5 is used
E7#5 is not a diatonic triad in any major or minor key, because it is an extended or altered chord, but its base triad belongs to the key of E major, the key of A major, the key of B major. a passing dominant in chromatic progressions. As a dominant-type chord it also points toward A major, the key a perfect fourth above E, which is the tonic it most often resolves to. That is where E7#5 does its work: not as a home chord, but as a chord that creates movement and then resolves. On the bass, E7#5 is the arpeggio E, C, E, G# — root, 5th, root, 3rd — and that order is the shape to learn.
Because E7#5 is an extended or altered chord, it appears in progressions as a colour or a dominant rather than as a diatonic staple. Try it in place of the plain E triad in a progression you already know, and listen to how the extra notes change the feel — that substitution is the usual way extended chords enter real music. The Chord Progression Builder lets you try E7#5 in a progression in any key and hear how it connects to the chords around it. On the bass, play E, C, E, G# and hear how the arpeggio spells out E7#5 without ever playing it as a block.
The same chord on other instruments is covered in E7#5 on guitar, E7#5 on piano, E7#5 on ukulele, and the scales that fit over it are the E major scale and the E minor pentatonic scale. Learning E7#5 on the bass and then checking it on another instrument is one of the best ways to fix the notes — E, G#, C, D — in your memory, because the notes stay the same while everything else changes.
Practising E7#5
A short worked example makes E7#5 concrete. Play the four-chord progression A – E – F#m – D in A major, the key E7#5 most often resolves toward: A – E – F#m – D. Play each chord for one bar at a slow tempo, and listen to how E7#5 sounds in that sequence — whether it feels like home, like a lift, or like a chord on its way somewhere else. Then play the same four chords in a different order, starting on E7#5 itself, and notice how its character changes when it opens the progression instead of sitting inside it. On the bass, play E, C, E, G# and hear how the arpeggio spells out E7#5 without ever playing it as a block.
For a second exercise, play E7#5 and then the chord a fourth above E, back and forth, four times each. That move — a chord and the chord a fourth above it — is the most common resolution in Western music, and it is the move E7#5 is built for when it acts as a dominant. Finish by playing E7#5 on its own, slowly, and naming each note out loud as you play it: E, G#, C, D. Naming the notes while you play them is what turns a shape into knowledge you can use in any key. Test yourself with the Practice Chord Quiz and keep time with the Metronome as the tempo rises. On the bass, play E, C, E, G# and hear how the arpeggio spells out E7#5 without ever playing it as a block.
Frequently asked questions
Where is E7#5 used?
E7#5 is an altered V chord in jazz and minor-key progressions, used before a resolution to the tonic. It adds lift and tension to a dominant chord. On the bass, the arpeggio above spells that note out one note at a time.
How do you play E7#5 on the bass?
Outline it with the arpeggio E, C, E, G#: root, 5th, root, 3rd. Play one note per beat, with the root E on beat one, and let each note ring. That arpeggio tells the listener exactly which chord is sounding, even though you never play all the notes of E7#5 at once.
What notes are in the E7#5 bass arpeggio?
The arpeggio is E, C, E, G#. It starts on the root E, moves to the 5th C, returns to the root E and finishes on the 3rd G#. Those four notes are the chord tones of E7#5, and playing them in that order is the standard way to outline the chord on bass.
Should you play the full E7#5 chord on bass?
Usually not. On bass the chord is outlined with the arpeggio E, C, E, G#, not strummed as a block. Playing all the notes at once sounds muddy in the low register and hides the root, which is the note the rest of the band is listening for.
What notes are in E7#5?
E7#5 contains E, G#, C, D: root E, major 3rd G#, sharpened 5th C and flattened 7th D. The sharpened 5th is the note that makes it an altered dominant. On the bass, the arpeggio above spells that note out one note at a time.