C7b5 guitar chord

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About C7b5

C7b5 keeps the dominant 3rd and flat 7th of , but lowers its 5th to : C, E, Gb and Bb.

The flat 5th is the note that names this chord, so let it sound. A sharp 11th is written differently because its natural 5th remains.

Also written C7(b5), C7-5 or C7♭5.

C7b5 guitar chord diagram: C, E, Gb, Bb, played x3435x
C7b5 guitar chord voicing: x-3-4-3-5-x.

How to use C7b5

1Leading into the V from above

Fr+6 – V – i

Built on the flat sixth of a minor key, C7b5 is the classical French sixth under a lead-sheet name, one of the strongest ways into B: its bass falls a half step and its seventh rises a half step, both onto the V’s root. The 7♭5 a tritone away has the same four notes.

Listen for: The seventh rises a half step as the bass falls a half step; they meet on the root of the V, an octave apart.

Heard in“Bernie’s Tune”

What to play over C7b5

Useful scales

  • +DG#

    Contains C7b5 and adds ninth and sharp fifth.

  • +DGA

    Adds ninth, fifth and thirteenth, for a dominant sharp-eleventh color.

  • +DbD#Ab

    Contains C7b5 and adds flat ninth, sharp ninth and sharp fifth.

  • +DbEbGA

    Contains C7b5 and adds flat ninth, sharp ninth, fifth and thirteenth.

Every scale

Chords near C7b5

Change one note

  • Bb → B

    Raise the flat seventh to the major seventh.

    See Cmaj7b5 chord →
  • 1st inversion
    1st inversion
    E → Eb

    Lower the major third to the minor third.

    See Cm7b5 chord →
  • 1st inversion
    1st inversion
    Gb → G

    Raise the flat fifth to the fifth.

    See C7 chord →
  • 1st inversion
    1st inversion
    Gb → G#

    Replace the flat fifth with the sharp fifth.

    See Caug7 chord →

Add a note

Altered dominant 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.

Midi Settings

7.5
Play Style
One pass of the pick from the lowest string up, everything left ringing.
Instrument
350
150

Style

Shows each chord the way this style would voice it, and marks which of its alternatives belong to the idiom.

Layout

Left Handed Mode