How To Use 7b5 Chords On Guitar

How to Use 7b5 Chords? Guitar Lesson With Shapes and Tabs

By Stef Ramin On 2021-10-12 0

Unlocking that smooth tension and release in jazz harmony is where the magic lies—and the dominant seventh flat-fifth (7♭5) chord is one of your secret weapons.

Imagine sliding into a chord that sounds both unexpected and inevitable, bridging the gap between yellow-and-gold major chords and grey-shaded minor ones. That’s what the 7♭5 chord does.

Inverted Chord Shapes / Symmetry

One significant point with 7♭5 chords is that they are symmetrical, indeed there are two chords in one position.

It means that each note is separated by a tritone, an equal division of the octave made of 6 semitones (or 3 whole tones).

As shown in the diagrams below, there is one position for two voicings.

Let's take the first diagram as an example, the one with drop 2 dominant 7♭5 chord with the bass on 6th string.

As you can see the first voicing shape with the black dots (R - ♭5 - ♭7 - 3) is the same as the other one a tritone away (♭5 - R - 3 - ♭7).

The two other blue shapes, 3 - ♭7 - R - ♭5 and ♭7 - 3 - ♭5 - R, are also played the same way.

The principle is the same for any 7♭5 chord position.

Exercises - 2 5 1 Progressions

The basic use of 7♭5 is to substitute them for the V7 chord of a II V I sequence for example, in order to create a smooth transition between the chords. Here are some tabs to illustrate this.

Exercise 1 : In the key of B♭ : Cm7 (ii) | F7 (V) | B♭maj7 (I) becomes : Cm7 | B7♭5 | B♭maj7.

Exercise 2 : Key of D : Em7 (ii) | A7 (V) | Dmaj7 (I) becomes : Em7 | E♭7(b5) | Dmaj7.

Exercise 3 : Key of C : Dm7 (ii) | G7 (V) | Cmaj7 (I) becomes : Dm9 | D♭7(b5) | Cmaj7.

TIP : You can try to replace basic dominant 7 chords by 7♭5 chords in jazz standards or songs you are familiar with.

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