Sevenths
F half-diminished 7th chord
Dark and unresolved; often the ii chord in a minor key.
Fm7♭5 is the viiø7 chord in F♯ major. In minor keys: iiø7 in E♭ minor.
- Notes
- FA♭C♭E♭
- Formula
- 1♭3♭5♭7
- Built from
- root · minor 3rd · diminished 5th · minor 7th
How to play Fm7♭5
About the F half-diminished 7th chord
Playing it
On guitar, Fm7♭5 has an open-position shape, 121104, using three fingers alongside the open strings.
On piano, Fm7♭5 has two black keys (A♭ and E♭) and two white keys.
On ukulele the usual Fm7♭5 shape is 1312, using four fingers.
Related chords
Take away the root and the other three notes form A♭m (A♭ C♭ E♭) — so you can think of Fm7♭5 as A♭m with F added underneath.
Fm7♭5 contains exactly the same notes as A♭m6. Which name fits depends on which note is in the bass and what key you’re in.
Move a single note and Fm7♭5 becomes a different chord: raise C♭ to C for Fm7, drop the E♭ for Fdim and lower E♭ to E𝄫 for Fdim7.
Where you’ll hear it
Notice the C♭ in Fm7♭5 (F A♭ C♭ E♭): each note of the chord takes its own letter (F–A–C–E), so the diminished 5th has to be written C♭ rather than B — the same key on a piano, spelled to fit the chord.
