half-diminished chord · E root
Em7b5 chord
- E1
- G♭3
- Bb♭5
- D♭7
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The E half-diminished chord is built from the notes E, G, Bb, D. It turns up 2 times in the 80 songs on this site, including Blue Bossa.
By Chiye · Updated
What is the Em7b5 chord?
The Em7b5 chord (E half-diminished) is a half-diminished chord built from four notes: E, G, Bb, D — the 1–♭3–♭5–♭7 of the E scale, 3 semitones and 6 semitones and 10 semitones above the root. On guitar it is most often played in open position (0-1-0-0-3-x) with 2 fingers while 3 strings ring open and the high 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. It is one of the most-used chords in this site's library: across the 80 song sheets charted here, Em7b5 appears 2 times in 1 song, most often in the key of Dm, and the chord it most often moves to is A7. 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 Em7b5 chord on guitar?
Open position — the easiest version of Em7b5 on the guitar.
- Press the A string at fret 1 with your index finger.
- Press the B string at fret 3 with your ring finger.
- Start your strum on the low E string and do not play the high E string at all.
The x mark is part of the shape, not an accident: the chord only sounds right when high E stays silent. Instead of aiming your pick around that string, let the string next to it rest on it and damp it. 0-1-0-0-3-x
How do you make Em7b5 sound clean?
Em7b5 gets confused with Em7; the flattened fifth changes the shape, not just the colour.
Em → Em7b5 → A7 → Dm: the ii–V–i of D minor, all in the open position.
In real songs
What songs use the Em7b5 chord?
- chord changes
- 2
- songs
- 1
- common keys
- Dm
Across the 80 chord sheets on this site, Em7b5 appears 2 times in 1 song — most often in the key of Dm.
Em7b5A7Dm7Dm7
D#maj7D#maj7Em7b5A7
Chord flow
What chord comes after Em7b5?
Those figures are counted from the 80 chord sheets on this site, so they describe what songwriters actually played rather than what theory says should come next.
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 Em7b5
Em7b5 is spelled E – G – Bb – D — the 1 – ♭3 – ♭5 – ♭7 of the E 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 Em7b5 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 Em7b5 chord in?
Em7b5 is the half-diminished seventh built on E, and it turns up in two places without borrowing: as the viiø7 in F major, where it resolves up a semitone, and as the iiø7 in D 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
Em7b5 on other instruments
E – G – Bb – D — 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
