Abm6 is Ab, Cb, Eb and F: a plain with one more note on it.
That note is — the sixth note of the scale, which is what the 6 in the name means.
These two shapes are the same except for one note: the second one plays the sixth where the first repeats the root.
The four-note minor chord you already know, , uses instead. Swap that one note for the sixth and you get the chord jazz players land on to end a minor tune.
Also written Abmin6, Ab-6 or Ab minor 6.
Abm6 is where a minor tune comes to rest — a minor I, never a ii. It is the natural landing chord of a minor ii–V–i.
Listen for: The flat nine on top of the dominant falls a half step onto the fifth.
Works when the minor chord is a destination — not a ii leading straight into its own V.
Heard in“Summertime”“Blue Bossa”“Invitation”
Hold a minor chord for a few bars and walk one voice down from the root, a half step at a time. Abm6 is the last step.
Listen for: Only one note moves: root, major seventh, flat seventh, sixth.
Heard in“Manhã de Carnaval”“’Round Midnight”“My Funny Valentine”
In E♭ major, Abm6 is the iv chord borrowed from the parallel minor. Slip it between two tonic chords and the bar darkens, then slides straight home.
Listen for: The minor third falls a half step to the tonic’s fifth — the note a major IV does not have.
Hold this Abm6 grip still and move only the bass: over the sixth it becomes Fm7b5, over the fourth it becomes Db9. Wherever a chart asks for either, you already know the shape.
Listen for: Only the bass moves, down in thirds. The four notes above it never change, yet each bass names a different chord.
Heard inJim Hall’s comping on “My Funny Valentine”, from Undercurrent
When a minor ii–V lands on a i that lasts two bars, the i can change quality instead of sitting still: AbmMaj7, then Abm6, melody permitting. The harmony seems to move every bar.
Heard in “Autumn Leaves” (end of the A section)
The basic turnaround in A♭ minor can start on Abm6 as well as on the minor seventh.
Abm6 can be reached from Db7 rather than from its V, a plagal cadence. The ♭VI7 can take the IV7’s place, and so can the dominant a half step below Abm6.
A melody can be harmonised by alternating Abm6 with diminished seventh chords, the minor form of the sixth–diminished sound.
Heard in “Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise” (first five bars)Go to the Ab6 page to hear it →
In which keys. Every note of Abm6 belongs to Eb minor and F# major.
Every note of Abm6 is in Ab dorian, Ab melodic minor and Ab half-whole diminished.
Each of those is a page: the scale across the neck, and the chords it harmonises into — which is where Abm6 sits in it. Every scale.
Change one note of Abm6 and you have (drop the sixth), (the fifth becomes the flat fifth), (add the ninth), (the sixth becomes the flat seventh), (the sixth becomes the major seventh) or (the sixth becomes the ninth).
Abm6 is a minor chord — root, minor third, fifth. Minor chords on every root.
The common shapes and the derived voicings come from different places, and both are explained in how this site is built.
Shows each chord the way this style would voice it, and marks which of its alternatives belong to the idiom.