Ebm7b5 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 Ebm7b5 — open string voicings
Ebm7b5 is Eb, Gb, A and Db — Ebm7 with the fifth lowered a semitone.
It sounds hollow, and unmistakably going somewhere. Almost always the first chord of a minor ii–V–i, so it walks straight into an altered dominant.
Ebm7b5 notes and formula
| Eb | Gb | A | Db |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ♭3 | ♭5 | ♭7 |
Pre-dominant — the ii of a minor key.
Also written Ebø, Ebø7, Ebm7-5, Ebm7(b5) or Eb half diminished. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play Ebm7b5
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.
Ebm7b5 has 2 of them, on strings 6-5-4-3-2 and 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 x6767x — no barre. None of the shapes for Ebm7b5 uses an open string, so every one of them is movable; the lowest sits at the 1st fret. 4 of the 8 need a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 1st fret to the 14th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| xx1222 | 1st fret | Eb, root position | Gb | barred |
| x64645 | 4th fret | Eb, root position | A | all fretted |
| x6767x | 6th fret | Eb, root position | Gb | all fretted |
| xx7879 | 7th fret | Bbb, 2nd inversion | Db | all fretted |
| 11-x-x-11-10-9 | 9th fret | Eb, root position | Db | all fretted |
| 11-x-11-11-10-x | 10th fret | Eb, root position | A | barred |
| 11-12-13-11-14-11 | 11th fret | Eb, root position | Eb | barred |
| x-x-13-14-14-14 | 13th fret | Eb, root position | Gb | barred |
The same notes rebuilt from scratch give 4 shell, 13 drop 2 and 9 drop 3 voicings, each on its own page.
Tensions. A shell of Ebm7b5, 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 Ebm7b5
Ebm7b5 is the ii of Db minor, which is where it is nearly always found: half-diminished, then an altered dominant, then the minor tonic.
In which keys. Every note of Ebm7b5 belongs to C# minor (the ii°, the supertonic) and E major (the vii°, the leading tone).
What to play over Ebm7b5
Every note of Ebm7b5 is in Eb blues, Eb locrian, Eb altered and Eb half-whole diminished.
Chords near Ebm7b5
Change one note of Ebm7b5 and you have Ebdim (drop the flat seventh), Ebdim7 (the flat seventh becomes a sixth), Ebm7 (the flat fifth becomes a fifth), EbmMaj7b5 (the flat seventh becomes a major seventh) or Eb7b5 (the minor third becomes a major third).
Ebm7b5 is a diminished chord — root, minor third, flat fifth. Diminished and half-diminished chords on every root.
On Ebm7b5’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.