About Eb — triad voicings
Eb is Eb, G and Bb.
It sounds plain and completely at rest. The reference every other chord on this page is a modification of.
Eb notes and formula
| Eb | G | Bb |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 5 |
Tonic — the chord a progression stops on.
Also written Ebmaj, EbM or Eb major. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play Eb
Three notes on one string set. No seventh, so nothing is claimed about the chord beyond its quality.
Thin on their own, excellent over a bass line or against someone else’s harmony.
Eb has 46 of them, on the bottom three strings, the low-middle three, the bottom four strings, the high-middle three, the top three strings, the top four strings, the middle four strings, strings 6-4-3-2 and strings 5-3-2-1, from open position up to the 13th — every inversion the chord has: Eb in the bass, G in the bass and Bb in the bass. The one to learn first is the G shape at the nut, which is the easiest grip here.
6 of them sit on the bottom 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 xx1343 — no barre and down at the nut. None of the shapes for Eb uses an open string, so every one of them is movable; the lowest sits at the 1st fret. 4 of the 6 need a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 1st fret to the 13th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| xx1343 | 1st fret | Eb, root position | G | all fretted |
| x65343 | 3rd fret | Eb, root position | G | all fretted |
| x68886 | 6th fret | Eb, root position | Bb | barred |
| 11-10-8-8-8-11 | 8th fret | Eb, root position | Eb | barred |
| x-x-8-8-8-11 | 8th fret | Bb, 2nd inversion | Eb | barred |
| 11-13-13-12-11-11 | 11th fret | Eb, root position | Eb | barred |
How to use Eb
How you get to it. The turn that lands on Eb is Fm7 to Bb7 — the ii and the V of Eb — and Bb7 shares its third and seventh with Fm7, so the hand barely moves between them.
In which keys. Every note of Eb belongs to C minor (the ♭III), Eb major (the I), F minor (the ♭VII), G minor (the ♭VI), Ab major (the V) and Bb major (the IV).
What to play over Eb
Every note of Eb is in Eb major pentatonic, Eb major, Eb lydian, Eb mixolydian and Eb lydian dominant.
Chords near Eb
Change one note of Eb and you have Ebm (the major third becomes a minor third), Ebsus2 (the major third becomes a ninth), Ebsus4 (the major third becomes a fourth), Ebmaj7 (add the major seventh), Ebadd9 (add the ninth) or Eb5 (drop the major third).
Eb is a major chord — root, major third, fifth. Major chords on every root.
On Eb’s sound and use this page follows Edward Aldwell & Carl Schachter, Harmony and Voice Leading (Schirmer / Cengage, 4th ed., 2011). The shapes and the derived voicings come from different places, and both are explained in where the chords and the theory come from.