Eb7b9 guitar chord

Drop 3 · 9th in bass · ♭9–R–3–♭7 · dropped from root position
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About Eb7b9 — drop 3 voicings

Eb7b9 lowers the 9th of to , one fret above its root: Eb, G, Bb, Db and Fb.

That note can fall one fret to the root of a minor home chord. This is a common altered V in a minor cadence, not its only destination.

Also written Eb7(b9), Eb7-9 or Eb7♭9.

Eb7b9 drop 3 guitar chord diagram: Eb, G, Bb, Db, Fb, played 0x102x
Eb7b9 drop 3 guitar chord voicing: 0-x-1-0-2-x.

What is drop 3

Drop 3
close
753R
→
dropped
75R3

Drop the third voice from the top an octave instead. The wider gap skips a string, so the muted string is part of the shape.

That result, 3–R–5–7, is the shape usually meant by drop 3. Named by its bass note, as the inversions are here, it is the 1st inversion.

More familiar jazz shapes are drop 3 than drop 2.

E×ADGB

How to use Eb7b9

1The V of a minor key

V in A♭ minor

Eb7b9 is the dominant a minor key builds from its own notes. The flat nine is the key’s flat sixth, a half step above the fifth of Abm, and it falls there.

Compare with

Listen for: The flat nine falls a half step to the fifth of the minor chord. On the plain seventh chord that string holds the root.

What to play over Eb7b9

Useful scales

Every scale

Chords near Eb7b9

Change one note

  • open strings
    open strings
    Fb → F

    Raise the flat ninth to the ninth.

    See Eb9 chord →
  • open strings
    open strings
    Fb → F#

    Replace the flat ninth with the sharp ninth.

    See Eb7#9 chord →

Altered dominant chords on every root

The common shapes and the derived voicings come from different places, and both are explained in how this site is built.

Midi Settings

7.5
Play Style
One pass of the pick from the lowest string up, everything left ringing.
Instrument
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Style

Shows each chord the way this style would voice it, and marks which of its alternatives belong to the idiom.

Layout

Left Handed Mode