Dmaj7b5 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 Dmaj7b5 — open string voicings
Dmaj7b5 is D, F#, Ab and C# — Dmaj7 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.
Dmaj7b5 notes and formula
| D | F# | Ab | C# |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | ♭5 | 7 |
Coloured tonic — rare, and unstable for a major chord.
Also written DM7b5, DΔ7b5 or Dmaj7(b5). The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play Dmaj7b5
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.
Dmaj7b5 has 3 of them, on strings 6-5-4-3-2-1, strings 5-4-3-2-1 and strings 6-4-3-2-1, from the 3rd fret up to the 5th — every inversion the chord has: D 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.
Start with xx0122 — no barre and 1 open string. 1 of the 6 shapes here sits in open position. 2 of the 6 need a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 1st fret to the 14th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| xx0122 | open position | D, root position | F# | 1 open string |
| x54674 | 4th fret | D, root position | Ab | all fretted |
| x5667x | 5th fret | D, root position | F# | all fretted |
| 10-9-11-11-9-9 | 9th fret | D, root position | C# | barred |
| 10-11-11-11-x-10 | 10th fret | D, root position | D | barred |
| x-x-12-13-14-14 | 12th fret | D, root position | F# | all fretted |
The same notes rebuilt from scratch give 5 shell, 13 drop 2 and 9 drop 3 voicings, each on its own page.
Tensions. A shell of Dmaj7b5, root, third and seventh, leaves a string free, and the tones that belong over it are the 9 (E) and the 13 (B).
How to use Dmaj7b5
How you get to it. The turn that lands on Dmaj7b5 is Em7 to A7 — the ii and the V of D — and A7 shares its third and seventh with Em7, so the hand barely moves between them.
In which keys. Every note of Dmaj7b5 belongs to F# minor (the ♭VI) and A major (the IV, the subdominant).
What to play over Dmaj7b5
Every note of Dmaj7b5 is in D lydian.
Chords near Dmaj7b5
Change one note of Dmaj7b5 and you have Dmaj7 (the flat fifth becomes a fifth), Dmaj7#5 (the flat fifth becomes a sharp fifth), DmMaj7b5 (the major third becomes a minor third) or D7b5 (the major seventh becomes a flat seventh).
Dmaj7b5 is a major chord — root, major third, fifth. Major chords on every root.
On Dmaj7b5’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.