Bb7b5 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.
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- Fingers, notes or intervals
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About Bb7b5 — open string voicings
Bb7b5 is Bb, D, Fb and Ab — Bb7 with the fifth lowered a semitone.
It sounds symmetrical and slightly unreal. The same four notes spell a 7♭5 a tritone away, which is exactly why one can stand in for the other.
Bb7b5 notes and formula
| Bb | D | Fb | Ab |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | ♭5 | ♭7 |
Altered dominant — and the chord that makes the tritone substitution work.
Also written Bb7(b5), Bb7-5 or Bb7♭5. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play Bb7b5
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.
Bb7b5 has 6 of them, on strings 6-5-4-3-2, strings 6-5-4-3-2-1, strings 5-4-3-2-1 and strings 6-4-3-2-1, from the 2nd fret up to the 5th — every inversion the chord has: D in the bass, Fb in the bass and Ab in the bass. The one to learn first is the Ab shape at the 4th fret, which is the easiest grip here.
3 of them sit on strings 6-5-4-3-2, so you can run the inversions up one set without changing strings — which is the whole reason to learn them as a family rather than as separate grips.
Start with x1213x — down at the nut. None of the shapes for Bb7b5 uses an open string, so every one of them is movable; the lowest sits at the 1st fret. None of them needs a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 1st fret to the 15th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| x1213x | 1st fret | Bb, root position | D | all fretted |
| 6x6750 | 5th fret | Bb, root position | Fb | 1 open string |
| x-x-8-9-9-10 | 8th fret | Bb, root position | D | all fretted |
| x-13-12-13-11-0 | 11th fret | Bb, root position | Bb | 1 open string |
| x-11-12-13-11-12 | 11th fret | Ab, 3rd inversion | Fb | all fretted |
| x-x-12-13-11-12 | 11th fret | D, 1st inversion | Fb | all fretted |
| x-13-14-13-15-x | 13th fret | Bb, root position | D | all fretted |
The same notes rebuilt from scratch give 7 shell, 14 drop 2 and 9 drop 3 voicings, each on its own page.
Tensions. A shell of Bb7b5, root, third and seventh, leaves a string free, and the tones that belong over it are the b9 (Cb), the 9 (C), the #9 (C#), the b13 (Gb) and the 13 (G).
How to use Bb7b5
Bb7b5 is a dominant with its tension raised, so it still points at Eb — harder than a plain seventh does, because the altered tones sit a semitone from where they are going.
Voice by voice, Bb7b5 → Eb. 3 voices move by a semitone, and one note is common to both chords.
| In Bb7b5 | Moves | In Eb |
|---|---|---|
| Bb, the root | stays where it is | Bb, the fifth |
| D, the major third | rises a semitone | Eb, the root |
| Fb, the flat fifth | falls a semitone | Eb, the root |
| Ab, the flat seventh | falls a semitone | G, the major third |
What to play over Bb7b5
Every note of Bb7b5 is in Bb whole tone, Bb lydian dominant, Bb altered and Bb half-whole diminished.
Chords near Bb7b5
Change one note of Bb7b5 and you have Bbmaj7b5 (the flat seventh becomes a major seventh), Bbm7b5 (the major third becomes a minor third), Bb7 (the flat fifth becomes a fifth), Bbaug7 (the flat fifth becomes a sharp fifth) or Bb9b5 (add the ninth).
Bb7b5 is an altered chord — a dominant seventh with its fifth or ninth moved. Altered dominant chords on every root.
On Bb7b5’s sound and use this page follows Mark Levine, The Jazz Theory Book (Sher Music, 1995). The shapes and the derived voicings come from different places, and both are explained in where the chords and the theory come from.