Eb6 guitar chord
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About Eb6 — 1st inversion
Eb6 is Eb, G, Bb and C — Eb with a major sixth added on top.
It sounds warm, and finished without being sweet. It closes a tune as firmly as the triad does but without the maj7’s shine, which is why so many standards end on one.
Eb6 notes and formula
| Eb | G | Bb | C |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 5 | 6 |
Tonic — an ending chord.
Also written Ebmaj6, EbM6 or Eb major 6. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play Eb6
Eb6 in 1st inversion puts G in the bass instead of Eb, the 3rd of the chord. The notes are the same; what changes is what the bass line does, which is most of why you would reach for it — it lets the lowest voice move by step where the root would have jumped.
One of Eb6’s 9 common shapes does this: x-10-8-8-8-8.
Start with xx1313 — no barre and down at the nut. None of the shapes for Eb6 uses an open string, so every one of them is movable; the lowest sits at the 1st fret. 4 of the 9 need a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 1st fret to the 13th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| xx1313 | 1st fret | Eb, root position | G | all fretted |
| x6554x | 4th fret | Eb, root position | Eb | all fretted |
| x68888 | 6th fret | Eb, root position | C | barred |
| x-10-8-8-8-8 | 8th fret | G, 1st inversion | C | barred |
| 11-10-10-8-8-8 | 8th fret | Eb, root position | C | barred |
| 8-10-8-8-11-8 | 8th fret | C, 6th in the bass | C | barred |
| 11-x-10-12-11-x | 10th fret | Eb, root position | Bb | all fretted |
| 11-x-13-12-13-11 | 11th fret | Eb, root position | Eb | all fretted |
| 11-13-x-12-13-11 | 11th fret | Eb, root position | Eb | all fretted |
The same notes rebuilt from scratch give 5 shell, 15 drop 2 and 9 drop 3 voicings, each on its own page.
Tensions. A shell of Eb6, root, third and seventh, leaves a string free, and the tones that belong over it are the 9 (F) and the #11 (A).
How to use Eb6
How you get to it. The turn that lands on Eb6 is Fm7 to Bb7 — the ii and the V of Eb — and Bb7 shares its third and seventh with Fm7, so the hand barely moves between them.
In which keys. Every note of Eb6 belongs to C minor (the ♭III), Eb major (the I), F minor (the ♭VII), G minor (the ♭VI), Ab major (the V) and Bb major (the IV).
What to play over Eb6
Every note of Eb6 is in Eb major pentatonic, Eb major, Eb lydian, Eb mixolydian and Eb lydian dominant.
Chords near Eb6
Change one note of Eb6 and you have Eb (drop the sixth), Ebmaj7 (the sixth becomes a major seventh), Ebm6 (the major third becomes a minor third), Ebadd9 (the sixth becomes a ninth), Eb69 (add the ninth) or Eb7 (the sixth becomes a flat seventh).
Eb6 is a major chord — root, major third, fifth. Major chords on every root.
On Eb6’s sound and use this page follows Mark Levine, The Jazz Piano Book (Sher Music, 1989). The shapes and the derived voicings come from different places, and both are explained in where the chords and the theory come from.