Gmmaj7b5

GmMaj7b5 is G, Bb, Db and F#, a minor major seven flat five. The shape this page opens on is written 3443x3, lowest string first.

Note by note. G is the root, Bb is the minor third, Db is the flat fifth and F# is the major seventh.

Also written GmM7b5 or Gm(maj7)b5. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.

There are 5 common shapes for GmMaj7b5 on the guitar, and 24 derived voicings in 3 families.

One note away. Change a single note of GmMaj7b5 and you have Gdim (with one note taken away), Gdim7 (with one note moved), Gmaj7b5 (with one note moved), Gm7b5 (with one note moved) or GmMaj7 (with one note moved).

The common shapes, written lowest string first: 3443x3, 34x322, xx5676, x-10-x-11-11-9, x-10-11-11-11-x.

Under the hand. None of the shapes for GmMaj7b5 uses an open string, so every one of them is movable; the lowest sits at the 2nd fret. 2 of the 5 need a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 2nd fret to the 11th.

Shell. Root, third and seventh: the guide tones fix the quality, so the fifth is dropped. That is what leaves a string free, so pick a tension to put on top. GmMaj7b5 has 3x432x, x-10-x-11-11-9, 3146xx.

Drop 2. A close-position chord with the second voice from the top lowered an octave. Sits on four adjacent strings. GmMaj7b5 has xx4323, 3443xx, xx5676, x-10-11-11-11-x, x1402x, x4537x, 6956xx, x9868x.

Drop 3. The third voice from the top lowered an octave. The dropped voice becomes the bass, which is why a string is skipped. GmMaj7b5 has x1x022, 3x432x, x4x373, 6x567x, x9x686, 9-x-8-11-8-x, x-10-x-11-11-9, 14-x-11-12-11-x.

Tensions. A shell of GmMaj7b5, root, third and seventh, leaves a string free, and the tones that belong over it are the 11 (C) and the b13 (Eb).

What kind of chord this is. GmMaj7b5 is a diminished chord — root, minor third, flat fifth. diminished and half-diminished chords on every root, and what they are for.

The common shapes and the derived voicings come from different places, and both are explained in where the chords and the theory come from.