Why is minor key so sad?

The minor key is opposed to the major key and it's perceived by us (without being aware) as if there was something wrong, hence sadness or restlessness. Further explanation: When you hear a note, what you're really hearing are vibrations.

music.stackexchange.com - Why do minor keys sound “sad”? [closed] - Music Stack Exchange

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The major key is present by nature in every note that is played. Therefore, it is interpreted as normal behavior, a happy day in our lives, 'cause that's what we expect to happen. The minor key is opposed to the major key and it's perceived by us (without being aware) as if there was something wrong, hence sadness or restlessness. Further explanation: When you hear a note, what you're really hearing are vibrations. For each note there is a whole set of vibrations that take in place, and that we don't even perceive. When you play a low C, you're not hearing only C, but every other harmonic or overtone that belongs to C. That is, going from lower to higher in pitch, the low C being played, then C (octave), then G, then another C, then E, so on and so forth, each time being less the distance between the current overtone and the next one. As you may have noticed, this first 5 notes (C, C, G, C, E) form the major triad. This means that by nature, the major triad is always present. The note that results in the minor triad is E flat, which is the 18th overtone in the harmonic series. For this reason, and because the major triad is always there, it results in a contradiction that our human nature understands as sadness, unconformity, and restlessness. If you want to go deeper into this, I strongly recommend Leonard Bernstein's lectures "The Unanswered Question", in which he engages in a deep and detailed explanation on this and other similar matters.

Here lies musical universality.

Edit: It can be considered universal, as physics have demonstrated its existence in nature and, as the same Bernstein says, the major triad (and even until the pentatonic scale, which would user overtones 5 and 6) can be found in every culture around the world.

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Is a sharp 9 a minor 3rd?

7#9 chords have a blues sound because of the major third and the minor third. Indeed, as you can see in the chart above, the #9 can be considered as the minor third (b3). This type of chord is often referred as the Hendrix (Jimmy) chord because of its use in Purple haze.

jazz-guitar-licks.com - 7#9 Guitar Chord - Diagrams, Voicings & Theory

How to build 7#9 chords?

You just have to add a ninth to the dominant 7 chord and raise it with a semitone to get a dominant 7#9 chord. As it is shown in the chart below, by adding a 9 to a dominant 7 chord you obtain a dom9 chord and by raising the ninth you get a 7#9 chord. Dominant seventh chord 1 3 5 b7 Dominant 9th chord 1 3 5 b7 9 Dominant 7#9 chord 1 3 5 b7 #9 (b3) 7#9 chords have a blues sound because of the major third and the minor third. Indeed, as you can see in the chart above, the #9 can be considered as the minor third (b3). This type of chord is often referred as the Hendrix (Jimmy) chord because of its use in Purple haze. There is much of it in many jazz-blues compositions and very used by hard-bop musicians as Wes Montgomery (Four on six, Full House, D natural blues), Kenny Burrell (Chitlins con carne), Grant Green, Lou Donaldson and many more.

Notation Symbols

Dominant 7#9 chords can be written 7+9 or 7#9.

What Scale to Play Over 7#9 Chords?

Minor pentatonic scale, minor blues scale, diminished scales or altered scale are generally used to play over 7#9 chords.

Basic 7#9 Guitar Shapes

Here are three main positions to play dominant seventh sharp ninth chords on the guitar. As already mentioned before, 9th chords are theoretically made up of five tones, but it is physically difficult to play all of them. That's why the fifth (5) is generally omitted. It is the least important notes which make up the 7#9 chord.