Eb7 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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About Eb7 — open string voicings
Eb7 is Eb, G, Bb and Db — Eb with the flat seventh added on top.
It sounds restless and pointed at something. The third and the flat seventh are a tritone apart and each moves by a semitone into the next chord; that is the engine of a cadence, and the whole vocabulary of the blues.
Eb7 notes and formula
| Eb | G | Bb | Db |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 5 | ♭7 |
Dominant — it points a fifth down.
Also written Ebdom7 or Eb dominant 7. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play Eb7
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.
Eb7 has 6 of them, on strings 5-4-3-2-1, strings 6-4-3-2-1, the middle four strings and the top four strings, from the 3rd fret up to the 5th — every inversion the chord has: Eb in the bass, G in the bass, Bb in the bass and Db in the bass. The one to learn first is the Db shape at the 3rd fret, which is the easiest grip here.
Start with xx1323 — no barre and down at the nut. None of the shapes for Eb7 uses an open string, so every one of them is movable; the lowest sits at the 1st fret. 4 of the 6 need a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 1st fret to the 13th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| xx1323 | 1st fret | Eb, root position | G | all fretted |
| x6564x | 4th fret | Eb, root position | Eb | all fretted |
| x68686 | 6th fret | Eb, root position | Bb | barred |
| xx8889 | 8th fret | Bb, 2nd inversion | Db | barred |
| 11-10-8-8-8-9 | 8th fret | Eb, root position | Db | barred |
| 11-13-11-12-11-11 | 11th fret | Eb, root position | Eb | barred |
The same notes rebuilt from scratch give 5 shell, 14 drop 2 and 9 drop 3 voicings, each on its own page.
Tensions. A shell of Eb7, root, third and seventh, leaves a string free, and the tones that belong over it are the b9 (Fb), the 9 (F), the #9 (F#), the #11 (A), the b13 (Cb) and the 13 (C).
How to use Eb7
Eb7 is the V of Ab, and that is where it goes if it goes anywhere: the third and the flat seventh are a tritone apart, and both resolve by a semitone into Ab.
Voice by voice, Eb7 → Ab. 2 voices move by a semitone, and one note is common to both chords.
| In Eb7 | Moves | In Ab |
|---|---|---|
| Eb, the root | stays where it is | Eb, the fifth |
| G, the major third | rises a semitone | Ab, the root |
| Bb, the fifth | falls a whole tone | Ab, the root |
| Db, the flat seventh | falls a semitone | C, the major third |
In which keys. Every note of Eb7 belongs to F minor (the ♭VII) and Ab major (the V, the dominant).
What to play over Eb7
Every note of Eb7 is in Eb mixolydian, Eb lydian dominant and Eb half-whole diminished.
Chords near Eb7
Change one note of Eb7 and you have Eb (drop the flat seventh), Ebmaj7 (the flat seventh becomes a major seventh), Ebm7 (the major third becomes a minor third), Ebadd9 (the flat seventh becomes a ninth), Eb6 (the flat seventh becomes a sixth) or Eb7sus4 (the major third becomes a fourth).
Eb7 is a dominant chord — root, major third, fifth, minor seventh. Dominant seventh chords on every root.
On Eb7’s sound and use this page follows Edward Aldwell & Carl Schachter, Harmony and Voice Leading (Schirmer / Cengage, 4th ed., 2011). The shapes and the derived voicings come from different places, and both are explained in where the chords and the theory come from.