half-diminished chord · D root
Dm7b5 chord
- D1
- F♭3
- Ab♭5
- C♭7
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The D half-diminished chord is built from the notes D, F, Ab, C. It turns up 6 times in the 104 songs on this site, including Black Orpheus and My Funny Valentine.
By Chiye · Updated
What is the Dm7b5 chord?
The Dm7b5 chord (D half-diminished) is a half-diminished chord built from four notes: D, F, Ab, C — the 1–♭3–♭5–♭7 of the D scale, 3 semitones and 6 semitones and 10 semitones above the root. On guitar it is most often played in open position (x-x-0-1-1-1) with 3 fretted strings while 1 string rings open and the low E string stays silent. It is rated advanced. A minor seventh with a flattened fifth, the shape that leans hardest toward the key it is about to resolve into. Across the 104 song sheets in this site's library, Dm7b5 appears 6 times in 2 songs, most often in the keys of Cm and Dm, and the chord it most often moves to is Cm. Below you will find step-by-step fingering, audio of every shape, and the real progressions this chord lives inside.
How do you play the Dm7b5 chord on guitar?
Open position. The barre covers only part of the strings; keep the marked open strings ringing.
- Lay your index finger flat across the G to high E strings at fret 1, rolled slightly onto its bony edge.
- Start your strum on the D string and leave the low E and A strings out.
Leave out the lowest fretted note (G string) and practise the remaining strings. The bass changes, and the upper strings may still need a smaller barre; check that the third and other colour tones stay clear. x-x-0-x-1-1
How do you make Dm7b5 sound clean?
Dm7b5 is the first chord most players meet where the fifth is flattened, so the shape reads as a typo.
Loop Dm7b5, G7 and Cm, the ii–V–i of C minor. Pick the Ab on the G string at fret 1 before strumming the half-diminished chord.
In real songs
What songs use the Dm7b5 chord?
- chord changes
- 6
- songs
- 2
- common keys
- Cm · Dm
Across the 104 chord sheets on this site, Dm7b5 appears 6 times in 2 songs — most often in the keys of Cm and Dm.
Dm7Dm7b5Gm7A7
CmDm7b5Cm9Dm7b5
Cm9Dm7b5CmDm7b5
Chord flow
What chord comes after Dm7b5?
Every number here is a count from the progressions in our song sheets, not a generalisation: 1879 chord changes are behind these figures.
Three-chord moves
Three-chord moves are where a chord really shows its character. These are the ones that actually happen in this library, counted from the sheets:
The theory behind Dm7b5
Dm7b5 is spelled D – F – Ab – C — the 1 – ♭3 – ♭5 – ♭7 of the D scale, which is the root plus 3 semitones, 6 semitones, 10 semitones. A minor seventh with a flattened fifth, the shape that leans hardest toward the key it is about to resolve into.
The flattened fifth is what makes Dm7b5 unstable: it is a diminished triad with a minor seventh stacked on it, so it sounds like it is on the way somewhere rather than at rest. It has two usual destinations — up a semitone when it acts as the leading-tone chord, or down to the dominant when it acts as the second-degree chord — which is why you almost never hear it end a phrase.
What key is the Dm7b5 chord in?
Dm7b5 is the half-diminished seventh built on D, and it turns up in two places without borrowing: as the viiø7 in Eb major, where it resolves up a semitone, and as the iiø7 in C minor, where it steps down to the dominant.
the leading-tone seventh — it resolves up a semitone
the second-degree seventh in a minor key — it steps down to the V
Dm7b5 on other instruments
D – F – Ab – C — the highlighted black keys are the sharps or flats; play each note once, then move them into one hand position.
Take it to the practice room
