Seven flat five shapes7♭5

It sounds symmetrical and slightly unreal. The same four notes spell a 7♭5 a tritone away, which is exactly why one can stand in for the other.

9 moveable shapes. None has an open string in it, so each one plays every root there is; the dots are degrees, and R is the root.

One shape, twelve chords

Pick a root and every diagram below moves to it. Nothing about any of the shapes changes — only the fret they start on, and each one starts somewhere different because they are rooted on different strings.

Showing C7♭5. Every voicing of it, open strings included, is on its own chord page.

Root on the low E string

The lowest root available, so these are the fullest-sounding shapes and the ones that carry a band. F at the first fret, G at the third, A at the fifth: the shape is the same and the fret is the whole of the difference.

8frR♭5♭73

8989xx

4 notes · 2 frets

Same shape, also rooted on the A string

7frR♭73♭5

8x897x

4 notes · 3 frets

Root on the A string

The other half of the pair. Pair them with the low E shapes and the hand barely moves: the root a fourth up sits at the same fret on the A string, and the root a fifth up two frets higher.

3frR♭5♭73

x3435x

4 notes · 3 frets

Same shape, also rooted on the D string

2frR♭73♭5

x3x352

4 notes · 4 frets

Root on the D string

No bass note under it, which is the point rather than a shortcoming: these sit above a bass player instead of competing with one, and they reach the extensions the lower shapes have no fingers left for.

10frR♭5♭73

x-x-10-11-11-12

4 notes · 3 frets

Same shape, also rooted on the G string

Inversions

The same chord with something other than the root underneath. You reach for one of these because of what the bass is doing, not because of what the chord is — a bass line that walks while the harmony stays put is made of these.

1st inversion

3 in the bass. 2 ways to get it.

3 on the A string, root on the G string

5fr3♭7R♭5

x7857x

4 notes · 4 frets

3 on the D string, root on the B string

1fr3♭7R♭5

xx2312

4 notes · 3 frets

3rd inversion

♭7 in the bass. 2 ways to get it.

♭7 on the low E string, root on the G string

4fr♭7♭5R3

6x455x

4 notes · 3 frets

♭7 on the A string, root on the B string

11fr♭7♭5R3

x-13-x-11-13-12

4 notes · 3 frets

The other altered shapes

Every voicing of one particular 7♭5 chord — including the open-string ones that do not move — is on that chord's own page, linked under each shape above. All the moveable shapes for every quality are on the shapes index, and the altered dominant chords as a family are on their own page.

Midi Settings

7.5
Play Style
One pass of the pick from the lowest string up, everything left ringing.
Instrument
350
150

Style

Shows each chord the way this style would voice it, and marks which of its alternatives belong to the idiom.

Layout

Left Handed Mode