Ebm7 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
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- Fingers, notes or intervals
- Play the chord
About Ebm7 — shell voicings
Ebm7 is Eb, Gb, Bb and Db — Ebm with the flat seventh added.
It sounds smooth and unhurried. The ii of every major key, so most progressions you already know begin on one of these.
Ebm7 notes and formula
| Eb | Gb | Bb | Db |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ♭3 | 5 | ♭7 |
Pre-dominant — the ii of a major key, and a tonic in its own right.
Also written Ebmin7, Eb-7 or Eb minor 7. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play Ebm7
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.
Ebm7 has 5 of them, on the low-middle three, the bottom three strings, strings 5-3-2 and strings 6-4-3, from the 4th 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 4th fret, which is the easiest grip here.
Start with xx1322 — no barre and down at the nut. None of the shapes for Ebm7 uses an open string, so every one of them is movable; the lowest sits at the 1st fret. 2 of the 6 need a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 1st fret to the 13th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| xx1322 | 1st fret | Eb, root position | Gb | all fretted |
| x6464x | 4th fret | Eb, root position | Eb | all fretted |
| x6467x | 4th fret | Eb, root position | Gb | all fretted |
| x68676 | 6th fret | Eb, root position | Bb | barred |
| xx8879 | 7th fret | Bb, 2nd inversion | Db | all fretted |
| 11-13-11-11-11-11 | 11th fret | Eb, root position | Eb | barred |
The same notes rebuilt from scratch give 13 drop 2 and 9 drop 3 voicings, each on its own page.
Tensions. A shell of Ebm7, root, third and seventh, leaves a string free, and the tones that belong over it are the 9 (F), the 11 (Ab) and the 13 (C).
How to use Ebm7
How you get to it. The turn that lands on Ebm7 is Fm7♭5 to Bb7♭9: the ii and the V of Eb minor, which is where a minor tonic is usually arrived at rather than simply begun on.
In which keys. Every note of Ebm7 belongs to C# major (the ii), Eb minor (the i), F# major (the vi), Ab minor (the v), Bb minor (the iv) and B major (the iii).
What to play over Ebm7
Every note of Ebm7 is in Eb minor pentatonic, Eb blues, Eb dorian, Eb natural minor and Eb phrygian.
Chords near Ebm7
Change one note of Ebm7 and you have Ebm (drop the flat seventh), Ebm6 (the flat seventh becomes a sixth), Ebm7b5 (the fifth becomes a flat fifth), Ebm9 (add the ninth), EbmMaj7 (the flat seventh becomes a major seventh) or Ebmadd9 (the flat seventh becomes a ninth).
Ebm7 is a minor chord — root, minor third, fifth. Minor chords on every root.
On Ebm7’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.