E Minor Seventh Flat five Guitar Chord (Em7b5) | Easy Ways to Play It
To play Em7b5, the E half-diminished chord, you need E, G, Bb and D, the root, minor third, flat five and minor seventh.
Compared with a minor seventh chord only the fifth changes: it is lowered by a semitone. Em7b5 is the vii chord in F major and the ii chord in D minor. Every note of Em7b5 sits inside the E Aeolian b5 scale, so that scale is the natural place to look for melody notes.
Stripped-down versions of chords like this one are the subject of shell chords. Its top three notes, G, Bb and D, spell a minor triad, so the chord can be heard as a minor triad over a different bass note.
E minor 7th with flat 5th guitar chord is also written as Em7b5, Em7(b5), Eø7 or Emin7b5. It is also known as the E half-diminished chord.
E m7b5 chord Notes:
Tones of the Minor Seventh Flat five chord:
Formula: 1 b3 b5 b7
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Giancarlo is a musician (teaching guitar since 2000), software engineer, AI consultant and published researcher
FAQ
Which notes make up Em7b5?
Em7b5 contains E, G, Bb and D. These are the root, minor third, flat fifth and minor seventh. Bb is six semitones from E.
Why is Em7b5 called a half-diminished chord?
It combines the diminished triad E, G and Bb with a minor seventh, D. The seventh is not lowered further, so the chord is only half diminished.
What changes between E minor seventh and Em7b5?
The fifth drops a semitone. E minor seventh uses B, while Em7b5 uses Bb. The minor third G and minor seventh D are shared.
What scale suits E half-diminished?
The E Locrian scale, E, F, G, A, Bb, C, D, contains all four chord tones, so it provides melody notes that agree with the chord.
Where does Em7b5 fit as a diatonic chord?
Em7b5 is the vii chord of F major and the ii chord of D minor. All four notes fit inside both keys.
