F#m7b5 — F# half-diminished seventh chord
A diminished triad with a minor seventh added. Three minor thirds separated by a major third.
- 1 = F#
- b3 = A
- b5 = C
- b7 = E
- Symbol
- F#m7b5
- Root
- F#
- Quality
- Half-diminished seventh
- Family
- seventh
- Notes
- F# A C E
- Degree formula
1 b3 b5 b7- Semitones from the root
0 3 6 10- Distinct pitch classes
- 4
- Interval structure
- Stacked from the root: 3 semitones, 3 semitones, 4 semitones
- Notation
- Written m7b5 or with a slashed circle. The chord on the seventh degree of a major key, and the ii chord in a minor ii-V-i.
- 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 | A | 3 | Minor third |
| b5 | C | 6 | Tritone |
| b7 | E | 10 | Minor seventh |
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# – A – C – E | 0 3 6 10 |
| first inversion | A | b3 | A – C – E – F# | 0 3 7 9 |
| second inversion | C | b5 | C – E – F# – A | 0 4 6 9 |
| third inversion | E | b7 | E – F# – A – C | 0 2 5 8 |
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 | 2-0-2-2-1-0 | F# A E A C E | 1 b3 b7 b3 b5 b7 | F# | 2 | 6 |
| 2 | 2-0-2-2-1-2 | F# A E A C F# | 1 b3 b7 b3 b5 1 | F# | 2 | 6 |
| 3 | 2-3-2-2-1-2 | F# C E A C F# | 1 b5 b7 b3 b5 1 | F# | 2 | 6 |
| 4 | 14-12-14-14-13-12 | F# A E A C E | 1 b3 b7 b3 b5 b7 | F# | 2 | 6 |
| 5 | 14-12-14-14-13-14 | F# A E A C F# | 1 b3 b7 b3 b5 1 | F# | 2 | 6 |
| 6 | 14-15-14-14-13-14 | F# C E A C F# | 1 b5 b7 b3 b5 1 | F# | 2 | 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# locrian
- ChordF#dim
- ChordBm7
Related
- KeyKey of F#
- ScaleF# locrian
- ChordF#dim — Diminished
- ChordBm7 — Minor seventh
- ChordF#dim7 — Diminished seventh
- ChordF#7 — Dominant seventh
- ChordF#maj7 — Major seventh
- DegreesF# — degree map