Sevenths
G half-diminished 7th chord
Dark and unresolved; often the ii chord in a minor key.
Gm7♭5 is the viiø7 chord in A♭ major. In minor keys: iiø7 in F minor.
- Notes
- GB♭D♭F
- Formula
- 1♭3♭5♭7
- Built from
- root · minor 3rd · diminished 5th · minor 7th
How to play Gm7♭5
About the G half-diminished 7th chord
Playing it
On guitar, Gm7♭5 has an open-position shape, 31302x, using four fingers alongside the open strings. Don’t strum the high E string.
On piano, Gm7♭5 has two black keys (B♭ and D♭) and two white keys.
On ukulele the usual Gm7♭5 shape is 0111, with a small 3-string barre at the 1st fret.
Related chords
Take away the root and the other three notes form B♭m (B♭ D♭ F) — so you can think of Gm7♭5 as B♭m with G added underneath.
Gm7♭5 contains exactly the same notes as B♭m6. Which name fits depends on which note is in the bass and what key you’re in.
Move a single note and Gm7♭5 becomes a different chord: raise D♭ to D for Gm7, drop the F for Gdim and lower F to F♭ for Gdim7.
