Amaj7b5 guitar chord
An open string left ringing against a fretted grip. Because it costs no finger, it sounds a note the closed shape has none left for -- a tension on top, or a pedal root underneath. Either a familiar grip with open strings added, or a shape so sparse the open strings carry the chord. These belong to their key rather than to a shape, so D, A, G and E have many and Eb a handful.
- Tap a note to hear it
- Arrows change position
- Fingers, notes or intervals
- Play the chord
About Amaj7b5 — open string voicings
Amaj7b5 is A, C#, Eb and G# — Amaj7 with the fifth lowered a semitone.
It sounds hollow and hard to place. Far more often met spelled the other way round, as a ♯11 over a chord that kept its fifth.
Amaj7b5 notes and formula
| A | C# | Eb | G# |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | ♭5 | 7 |
Coloured tonic — rare, and unstable for a major chord.
Also written AM7b5, AΔ7b5 or Amaj7(b5). The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play Amaj7b5
An open string left ringing against a fretted grip. It costs no finger, so it can sound a note the closed shape has none left for: a tension on top, or a pedal root underneath.
These belong to their key rather than to a shape: they cannot be moved up the neck. D, A, G and E have many; E♭ has a handful.
Amaj7b5 has 1 of them, only on strings 6-5-4-3-2, all of them at the 5th fret — all in one inversion, so the bass note never moves. The one to learn first is the A shape at the 5th fret, which is the easiest grip here.
Start with x01124 — no barre and 1 open string. 2 of the 7 shapes here sit in open position. 2 of the 7 need a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 1st fret to the 14th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| x01124 | open position | A, root position | G# | 1 open string |
| x01224 | open position | A, root position | G# | 1 open string |
| 546644 | 4th fret | A, root position | G# | barred |
| 5666x5 | 5th fret | A, root position | A | barred |
| xx7899 | 7th fret | A, root position | C# | all fretted |
| x-12-11-13-14-11 | 11th fret | A, root position | Eb | all fretted |
| x-12-13-13-14-x | 12th fret | A, root position | C# | all fretted |
The same notes rebuilt from scratch give 5 shell, 13 drop 2 and 8 drop 3 voicings, each on its own page.
Tensions. A shell of Amaj7b5, root, third and seventh, leaves a string free, and the tones that belong over it are the 9 (B) and the 13 (F#).
How to use Amaj7b5
How you get to it. The turn that lands on Amaj7b5 is Bm7 to E7 — the ii and the V of A — and E7 shares its third and seventh with Bm7, so the hand barely moves between them.
In which keys. Every note of Amaj7b5 belongs to C# minor (the ♭VI) and E major (the IV, the subdominant).
What to play over Amaj7b5
Every note of Amaj7b5 is in A lydian.
Chords near Amaj7b5
Change one note of Amaj7b5 and you have Amaj7 (the flat fifth becomes a fifth), Amaj7#5 (the flat fifth becomes a sharp fifth), AmMaj7b5 (the major third becomes a minor third), A7b5 (the major seventh becomes a flat seventh) or A/G# (the flat fifth becomes a fifth).
Amaj7b5 is a major chord — root, major third, fifth. Major chords on every root.
On Amaj7b5’s sound and use this page follows Robert Rawlins & Nor Eddine Bahha, Jazzology (Hal Leonard, 2005). The shapes and the derived voicings come from different places, and both are explained in where the chords and the theory come from.