Fmaj7b5 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 Fmaj7b5 — open string voicings
Fmaj7b5 is F, A, Cb and E — Fmaj7 with the fifth lowered a semitone.
It sounds hollow and hard to place. Far more often met spelled the other way round, as a ♯11 over a chord that kept its fifth.
Fmaj7b5 notes and formula
| F | A | Cb | E |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | ♭5 | 7 |
Coloured tonic — rare, and unstable for a major chord.
Also written FM7b5, FΔ7b5 or Fmaj7(b5). The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play Fmaj7b5
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.
Fmaj7b5 has 6 of them, on strings 6-5-4-3-2-1, strings 6-5-4-3-2, strings 5-4-3-2-1 and strings 6-4-3-2-1, from the 4th fret up to the 6th — every inversion the chord has: A in the bass and E in the bass. The one to learn first is the A shape at the 5th fret, which is the easiest grip here.
3 of them sit on strings 6-5-4-3-2-1, 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 102200 — no barre and 3 open strings. 1 of the 7 shapes here sits in open position. 3 of the 7 need a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 1st fret to the 14th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 102200 | open position | F, root position | E | 3 open strings |
| 1222x1 | 1st fret | F, root position | F | barred |
| xx3455 | 3rd fret | F, root position | A | all fretted |
| x-8-7-9-10-7 | 7th fret | F, root position | Cb | all fretted |
| x-8-9-9-10-x | 8th fret | F, root position | A | all fretted |
| 13-12-14-14-12-12 | 12th fret | F, root position | E | barred |
| 13-14-14-14-x-x | 13th fret | F, root position | A | barred |
The same notes rebuilt from scratch give 6 shell, 14 drop 2 and 9 drop 3 voicings, each on its own page.
Tensions. A shell of Fmaj7b5, root, third and seventh, leaves a string free, and the tones that belong over it are the 9 (G) and the 13 (D).
How to use Fmaj7b5
How you get to it. The turn that lands on Fmaj7b5 is Gm7 to C7 — the ii and the V of F — and C7 shares its third and seventh with Gm7, so the hand barely moves between them.
In which keys. Every note of Fmaj7b5 belongs to C major (the IV, the subdominant) and A minor (the ♭VI).
What to play over Fmaj7b5
Every note of Fmaj7b5 is in F lydian.
Chords near Fmaj7b5
Change one note of Fmaj7b5 and you have Fmaj7 (the flat fifth becomes a fifth), Fmaj7#5 (the flat fifth becomes a sharp fifth), FmMaj7b5 (the major third becomes a minor third), F7b5 (the major seventh becomes a flat seventh) or F/E (the flat fifth becomes a fifth).
Fmaj7b5 is a major chord — root, major third, fifth. Major chords on every root.
On Fmaj7b5’s sound and use this page follows Robert Rawlins & Nor Eddine Bahha, Jazzology (Hal Leonard, 2005). The shapes and the derived voicings come from different places, and both are explained in where the chords and the theory come from.