G#m6 — G# minor sixth chord
A minor triad with the sixth added. Contains the same notes as the half-diminished seventh chord a minor third below it.
- 1 = G#
- b3 = B
- 5 = D#
- 6 = E#
- Symbol
- G#m6
- Root
- G#
- Quality
- Minor sixth
- Family
- added
- Notes
- G# B D# E#
- Degree formula
1 b3 5 6- Semitones from the root
0 3 7 9- Distinct pitch classes
- 4
- Interval structure
- Stacked from the root: 3 semitones, 4 semitones, 2 semitones
- Notation
- Written m6. Used as a tonic minor chord and as a passing chord towards a dominant.
- Key
- G# · Ab major / F minor key signature
Fingering charts
The library holds 6 fingerings of this chord and all of them are shown, in the library’s own order. Several fingerings of one chord is normal: the same notes can be stopped at different positions and on different strings.
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 | G# | 0 | Perfect unison |
| b3 | B | 3 | Minor third |
| 5 | D# | 7 | Perfect fifth |
| 6 | E# | 9 | Major 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 | G# | 1 | G# – B – D# – E# | 0 3 7 9 |
| first inversion | B | b3 | B – D# – E# – G# | 0 4 6 9 |
| second inversion | D# | 5 | D# – E# – G# – B | 0 2 5 8 |
| third inversion | E# | 6 | E# – G# – B – D# | 0 3 6 10 |
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 | 4-2-3-4-4-4 | G# B F B D# G# | 1 b3 6 b3 5 1 | G# | 2 | 6 |
| 2 | 4-6-6-4-6-4 | G# D# G# B F G# | 1 5 1 b3 6 1 | G# | 2 | 6 |
| 3 | 4-2-1-1-4-1 | G# B D# G# D# F | 1 b3 5 1 5 6 | G# | 3 | 6 |
| 4 | 4-2-3-1-4-1 | G# B F G# D# F | 1 b3 6 1 5 6 | G# | 3 | 6 |
| 5 | 4-2-1-4-4-1 | G# B D# B D# F | 1 b3 5 b3 5 6 | G# | 3 | 6 |
| 6 | 4-2-3-1-4-4 | G# B F G# D# G# | 1 b3 6 1 5 1 | G# | 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 G#
- ScaleG# melodic minor (ascending)
- ChordFm7b5
Related
- ChordFm7b5 — Half-diminished seventh
- ChordG#6 — Sixth
- ChordG#6/9 — Sixth added ninth
- ChordG#add9 — Added ninth
- DegreesAb — degree map
- Neck mapAb — note map
- KeyKey of Ab
- ScaleAb aeolian