Practice the F7b5 Chord on Guitar with Real-time Feedback
Want a structured chord roadmap instead of jumping between pages?
Go to the full guitar chords tutorial.
The F7b5 chord is F seventh flat five: F, A, Cb and Eb. The Cb is the lowered fifth and sounds the same as B, so F7b5 and B7b5 contain the same four pitches.
Three voicings are listed, one with a barre, none with open strings, and the lowest at the 1st fret. The F whole-tone scale contains every chord tone. For more on how dominant chords behave, see dominant chords.
Use the strum and arpeggio buttons at the top to hear the tritone in the chord, then compare it with a plain F7.
F 7th with flat 5th guitar chord is also written as F7b5, F7(b5) or F7-5.
Notes of the F 7b5 chord:
How the Dominant Seventh Flat five chord is built:
Formula: 1 3 b5 b7
F 7b5 Guitar Chord Diagrams
Position 1 Movable
Finger Positions
- Mute the B string
- Mute the high E string
- Place your index finger (1) on the fret 1 of the low E string
- Place your middle finger (2) on the fret 1 of the D string
- Place your ring finger (3) on the fret 2 of the A string
- Place your pinky finger (4) on the fret 2 of the G string
Position 2 Movable
Finger Positions
- Mute the low E string
- Mute the A string
- Place your index finger (1) on the fret 3 of the D string
- Place your middle finger (2) on the fret 4 of the G string
- Place your ring finger (3) on the fret 4 of the B string
- Place your pinky finger (4) on the fret 5 of the high E string
Position 3 Barre Movable
Finger Positions
- Mute the low E string
- Mute the high E string
- Place your index finger (1) on the fret 8 of the A and G strings at the same time
- Place your middle finger (2) on the fret 9 of the D string
- Place your ring finger (3) on the fret 10 of the B string
Find more shapes in our all guitar chords online library. If you
prefer a printable pdf, download
the Free Guitar Chords Chart Pdf
Created by
Giancarlo is a musician (teaching guitar since 2000), software engineer, AI consultant and published researcher
FAQ
Which notes make up F7b5?
F7b5 is F, A, Cb and Eb. The Cb is the lowered fifth, a semitone under the C of F7, and it sounds like B.
Why is the fifth in F seventh flat five written Cb and not B?
The fifth over F takes the letter C. A diminished fifth is a semitone lower than C, so it is Cb, even though it sounds like B.
In how many ways can F7b5 be voiced on guitar?
There are 3 voicings, from fret 1 to fret 10. One is a barre voicing and none uses an open string.
Which scale covers every pitch of F7b5?
The F whole-tone scale is F, G, A, B, C# and Eb. It contains all four chord pitches, with the chord's Cb written as B.
How is F7b5 different from F7?
F7 has F, A, C and Eb. F7b5 lowers the C to Cb and keeps the rest of the chord.
