Eb9b5 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.
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About Eb9b5 — shell voicings
Eb9b5 is Eb, G, A, Db and F — Eb7b5 with the natural ninth added over it.
It sounds sleek and tense. Played as a tritone substitution the ♭5 is the root of the dominant it replaced.
Eb9b5 notes and formula
| Eb | G | A | Db | F |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | ♭5 | ♭7 | 9 |
Altered dominant — commonly the tritone substitute.
Also written Eb9(b5), Eb9-5 or Eb9♭5. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play Eb9b5
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.
Eb9b5 has 11 of them, on the top four strings, the middle four strings, the bottom four strings, strings 5-3-2-1 and strings 6-4-3-2, from open position up to the 12th — all in one inversion, so the bass note never moves. The one to learn first is the Eb shape at the nut, which is the easiest grip here.
3 of them sit on the top four strings, so you can run the inversions up one set without changing strings — which is the whole reason to learn them as a family rather than as separate grips.
Start with x67069 — no barre and 1 open string. None of the shapes for Eb9b5 uses an open string, so every one of them is movable; the lowest sits at the 5th fret. 2 of the 5 need a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 5th fret to the 14th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| x65665 | 5th fret | Eb, root position | A | barred |
| x67069 | 6th fret | Eb, root position | Db | 1 open string |
| 11-10-11-10-10-11 | 10th fret | Eb, root position | Eb | barred |
| 11-12-11-12-x-13 | 11th fret | Eb, root position | F | all fretted |
| x-12-13-12-14-13 | 12th fret | Bbb, 2nd inversion | F | all fretted |
The same notes rebuilt from scratch give 15 rootless and 1 open string voicings, each on its own page.
Tensions. A shell of Eb9b5, root, third and seventh, leaves a string free, and the tones that belong over it are the b13 (Cb) and the 13 (C).
How to use Eb9b5
Eb9b5 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, Eb9b5 → Ab. 3 voices move by a semitone, and one note is common to both chords.
| In Eb9b5 | Moves | In Ab |
|---|---|---|
| Eb, the root | stays where it is | Eb, the fifth |
| G, the major third | rises a semitone | Ab, the root |
| A, the flat fifth | falls a semitone | Ab, the root |
| Db, the flat seventh | falls a semitone | C, the major third |
| F, the ninth | falls a whole tone | Eb, the fifth |
What to play over Eb9b5
Every note of Eb9b5 is in Eb whole tone and Eb lydian dominant.
Chords near Eb9b5
Change one note of Eb9b5 and you have Eb7b5 (drop the ninth), Eb9 (the flat fifth becomes a fifth), Ebaug9 (the flat fifth becomes a sharp fifth) or Eb9#11 (add the fifth).
Eb9b5 is an altered chord — a dominant seventh with its fifth or ninth moved. Altered dominant chords on every root.
On Eb9b5’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.