Eb7b9 guitar chord
The standard grips this chord is usually shown with.
- Tap a note to hear it
- Arrows change position
- Fingers, notes or intervals
- Play the chord
About Eb7b9 — 3rd inversion
Eb7b9 is Eb, G, Bb, Db and Fb — Eb9 with the ninth lowered a semitone.
It sounds dark and urgent. The flat ninth comes from the harmonic minor, so this is the V of a minor key rather than a major one.
Eb7b9 notes and formula
| Eb | G | Bb | Db | Fb |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 5 | ♭7 | ♭9 |
Altered dominant — it points at a minor chord.
Also written Eb7(b9), Eb7-9 or Eb7♭9. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play Eb7b9
Eb7b9 in 3rd inversion puts Db in the bass instead of Eb, the 7th 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 Eb7b9’s 7 common shapes does this: x-x-11-12-11-12.
Start with xx1020 — no barre and 2 open strings. 1 of the 7 shapes here sits in open position. 2 of the 7 need a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 1st fret to the 14th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| xx1020 | open position | Eb, root position | Fb | 2 open strings |
| x65656 | 5th fret | Eb, root position | Bb | barred |
| x68680 | 6th fret | Eb, root position | G | 1 open string |
| 11-10-11-9-x-x | 9th fret | Eb, root position | Fb | all fretted |
| x-x-11-12-11-12 | 11th fret | Db, 3rd inversion | Fb | all fretted |
| 11-13-11-12-11-12 | 11th fret | Eb, root position | Fb | barred |
| x-x-13-12-14-12 | 12th fret | Eb, root position | Fb | all fretted |
The same notes rebuilt from scratch give 5 shell, 13 drop 2, 9 drop 3, 15 rootless and 6 open string voicings, each on its own page.
Tensions. A shell of Eb7b9, root, third and seventh, leaves a string free, and the tones that belong over it are the #11 (A), the b13 (Cb) and the 13 (C).
How to use Eb7b9
Eb7b9 is a dominant with its tension raised, so it still points at Ab — harder than a plain seventh does, because the altered tones sit a semitone from where they are going.
Voice by voice, Eb7b9 → Abm. 3 voices move by a semitone, and one note is common to both chords.
| In Eb7b9 | Moves | In Abm |
|---|---|---|
| Eb, the root | stays where it is | Eb, the fifth |
| G, the major third | rises a semitone | Ab, the root |
| Bb, the fifth | rises a semitone | Cb, the minor third |
| Db, the flat seventh | falls a whole tone | Cb, the minor third |
| Fb, the flat ninth | falls a semitone | Eb, the fifth |
What to play over Eb7b9
Every note of Eb7b9 is in Eb half-whole diminished.
Chords near Eb7b9
Change one note of Eb7b9 and you have Eb7 (drop the flat ninth), Ebalt (the fifth becomes a sharp fifth), Eb9 (the flat ninth becomes a ninth) or Eb7#9 (the flat ninth becomes a minor third).
Eb7b9 is an altered chord — a dominant seventh with its fifth or ninth moved. Altered dominant chords on every root.
On Eb7b9’s sound and use this page follows Mark Levine, The Jazz Theory Book (Sher Music, 1995). The shapes and the derived voicings come from different places, and both are explained in where the chords and the theory come from.