Ebdim 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.
- Tap a note to hear it
- Arrows change position
- Fingers, notes or intervals
- Play the chord
About Ebdim — open string voicings
Ebdim is Eb, Gb and A — Ebm with the fifth lowered as well.
It sounds compressed and unstable in every direction. Rarely a destination; it is where a line passes through on the way somewhere.
Ebdim notes and formula
| Eb | Gb | A |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | ♭3 | ♭5 |
Unstable — it does not sit still.
Also written Eb°, Ebo or Eb diminished. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play Ebdim
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.
Ebdim has 1 of them, only on the middle four strings, all of them at the 4th fret — all in one inversion, so the bass note never moves. The one to learn first is the Bbb shape at the 4th fret, which is the easiest grip here.
Start with xx12x2 — only 3 fretted notes and down at the nut. None of the shapes for Ebdim uses an open string, so every one of them is movable; the lowest sits at the 1st fret. None of them needs a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 1st fret to the 14th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| xx12x2 | 1st fret | Eb, root position | Gb | all fretted |
| x64x45 | 4th fret | Eb, root position | A | all fretted |
| x6787x | 6th fret | Eb, root position | Gb | all fretted |
| 11-9-x-11-10-x | 9th fret | Eb, root position | A | all fretted |
| x-x-13-14-x-14 | 13th fret | Eb, root position | Gb | all fretted |
The same notes rebuilt from scratch give 46 triad voicings, each on its own page.
Tensions. A shell of Ebdim, root, third and seventh, leaves a string free, and the tones that belong over it are the 11 (Ab) and the b13 (Cb).
How to use Ebdim
In which keys. Every note of Ebdim belongs to C# minor (the ii°, the supertonic) and E major (the vii°, the leading tone).
What to play over Ebdim
Every note of Ebdim is in Eb blues, Eb locrian, Eb altered, Eb diminished and Eb half-whole diminished.
Chords near Ebdim
Change one note of Ebdim and you have Ebm (the flat fifth becomes a fifth), Ebdim7 (add the sixth), Ebm7b5 (add the flat seventh) or EbmMaj7b5 (add the major seventh).
Ebdim is a diminished chord — root, minor third, flat fifth. Diminished and half-diminished chords on every root.
On Ebdim’s sound and use this page follows Stefan Kostka, Dorothy Payne & Byron Almén, Tonal Harmony (McGraw-Hill, 8th ed., 2018). The shapes and the derived voicings come from different places, and both are explained in where the chords and the theory come from.