Eb7 guitar chord
Root, third and seventh: the guide tones fix the quality, so the fifth is dropped. That is what leaves a string free, so pick a tension to put on top.
- Tap a note to hear it
- Arrows change position
- Fingers, notes or intervals
- Play the chord
About Eb7 — shell 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
Root, third and seventh. The third and seventh, the guide tones, are what make the chord major, minor or dominant, so the fifth can go: it says nothing the symbol needs.
Three notes means a spare string, which is the real point. Put a tension on it.
Eb7 has 5 of them, on the low-middle three, the bottom three strings, strings 5-3-2 and strings 6-4-3, from the 2nd fret up to the 11th — all in one inversion, so the bass note never moves. The one to learn first is the Eb shape at the 5th 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 14 drop 2, 9 drop 3 and 6 open string 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.