Fm♭6 — F minor flat sixth chord
A minor triad with the sixth flattened. The flattened sixth is a semitone above the fifth, which darkens the chord compared with the plain minor sixth.
- 1 = F
- b3 = Ab
- 5 = C
- b6 = Db
- Symbol
- Fm♭6
- Root
- F
- Quality
- Minor flat sixth
- Family
- added
- Notes
- F Ab C Db
- Degree formula
1 b3 5 b6- Semitones from the root
0 3 7 8- Distinct pitch classes
- 4
- Interval structure
- Stacked from the root: 3 semitones, 4 semitones, 1 semitones
- Notation
- Written m♭6. Used as a colour chord on the tonic of a minor key and as a passing chord to a minor seventh.
- Key
- F · F major / D minor key signature
Formula
The chord tones in order from the root, with the interval each one forms above it.
| Degree | Note | Semitones | Interval from the root |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | F | 0 | Perfect unison |
| b3 | Ab | 3 | Minor third |
| 5 | C | 7 | Perfect fifth |
| b6 | Db | 8 | Minor sixth |
Inversions
An inversion is the same set of notes with a different one in the bass. The last column gives the distance of each note above the bass note, in semitones.
| Inversion | Bass note | Degree in the bass | Notes above the bass | Semitones above the bass |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| root position | F | 1 | F – Ab – C – Db | 0 3 7 8 |
| first inversion | Ab | b3 | Ab – C – Db – F | 0 4 5 9 |
| second inversion | C | 5 | C – Db – F – Ab | 0 1 5 8 |
| third inversion | Db | b6 | Db – F – Ab – C | 0 4 7 11 |
Playable voicings
These shapes were found by searching the fretboard of a standard-tuned guitar (E A D G B E) rather than copied from a chord book. The search allows every string to sound or to be muted, rejects any shape with a muted string between two sounding strings, rejects any shape whose fretted notes span more than four frets (a five-fret window), requires every chord tone to be present, and then sorts what remains with root-position shapes first and the most compact, lowest shapes next. The shapes shown are the first six of that ordering; other orderings are possible at the same frets.
| # | Shape (low string first) | Notes | Degrees | Bass | Span (frets) | Sounding strings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1-3-3-1-2-1 | F C F Ab Db F | 1 5 1 b3 b6 1 | F | 2 | 6 |
| 2 | 13-11-11-13-13-13 | F Ab Db Ab C F | 1 b3 b6 b3 5 1 | F | 2 | 6 |
| 3 | 13-15-15-13-14-13 | F C F Ab Db F | 1 5 1 b3 b6 1 | F | 2 | 6 |
| 4 | 1-4-3-1-1-1 | F Db F Ab C F | 1 b6 1 b3 5 1 | F | 3 | 6 |
| 5 | 1-3-3-1-2-4 | F C F Ab Db Ab | 1 5 1 b3 b6 b3 | F | 3 | 6 |
| 6 | 1-4-3-1-1-4 | F Db F Ab C Ab | 1 b6 1 b3 5 b3 | F | 3 | 6 |
Shape numbers run from the lowest string to the highest, so the left-hand number is the sixth string (low E) in standard tuning. Multiple shapes are listed because a chord can be voiced several ways, and because a lower position is not always the better sounding one.
Related chords and scales
- KeyEverything in F
- ScaleF melodic minor (ascending)
- ChordFm6
- ChordFm
- ChordFm7
Related
- KeyKey of F
- ScaleF melodic minor (ascending)
- ChordFm6 — Minor sixth
- ChordFm — Minor
- ChordFm7 — Minor seventh
- ChordF6 — Sixth
- ChordF6/9 — Sixth added ninth
- ChordFadd9 — Added ninth