Sevenths
E♭ diminished 7th chord
Symmetrical and very tense — every note is a minor 3rd apart.
E♭dim7 is the vii°7 chord in E minor.
- Notes
- E♭G♭B𝄫D𝄫
- Formula
- 1♭3♭5𝄫7
- Built from
- root · minor 3rd · diminished 5th · diminished 7th
How to play E♭dim7
About the E♭ diminished 7th chord
Playing it
On guitar, the usual E♭dim7 shape is xx1212 at the 1st fret. It has no open strings, so it’s a movable shape — slide it along the neck for other diminished 7th chords. Don’t strum the low E and A strings.
On piano, E♭dim7 has two black keys (E♭ and G♭) and two white keys.
On ukulele the usual E♭dim7 shape is 2323, using four fingers.
Related chords
Take away the root and the other three notes form G♭dim (G♭ B𝄫 D𝄫) — so you can think of E♭dim7 as G♭dim with E♭ added underneath.
E♭dim7 is symmetrical — its notes are evenly spaced — so Cdim7, F♯dim7 and Adim7 contain exactly the same notes. There are only three different-sounding diminished 7th chords in all.
Move a single note and E♭dim7 becomes a different chord: drop the D𝄫 for E♭dim, raise B𝄫 to B♭ for E♭m6 and raise D𝄫 to D♭ for E♭m7♭5.
Where you’ll hear it
Notice the B𝄫 in E♭dim7 (E♭ G♭ B𝄫 D𝄫): each note of the chord takes its own letter (E–G–B–D), so the diminished 5th has to be written B𝄫 rather than A — the same key on a piano, spelled to fit the chord.
