E♭mMaj7 on drop D guitar

E♭, G♭, B♭ and D · minor-major 7th · 3 shapes

The course explains what this page shows in Lesson 13 · Sevenths.

E♭mMaj7

  1. E♭1
  2. G♭♭3
  3. B♭5
  4. D7

E♭mMaj7 is E♭, G♭, B♭ and D.

E♭mMaj7 has four notes, and the drop D guitar has six strings to play them on. The rest of this page shows how a hand fits one to the other.

On the staff

E♭G♭B♭D

On a treble staff, E♭mMaj7 is written E♭, G♭, B♭ and D.

The staff shows the notes one after the other, then together. Written this way the chord is in close position, which means each note sits as near to the one below it as the spelling allows. A guitar almost never plays a chord in close position.

E♭mMaj7 under a hand

E♭mMaj7/G♭first inversionposition 4
4fr♭31♭3715DADGBE
7♭31♭315C2C3C4C5

Strummed from the lowest string to the highest, this grip sounds G♭, E♭, G♭, D, E♭ and B♭, which are the degrees ♭3 1 ♭3 7 1 5 rather than the 1 ♭3 5 7 of the written chord. The lowest note is the ♭3 rather than the root, so this grip is in first inversion, written E♭mMaj7/G♭. It has the same notes as the root-position grip, but with G♭ in the bass it sounds different. With G♭ in the bass and six strings sounding four notes, the 1 and ♭3 appear more than once.

Between the strings you sound: M6›m3›m6›m2›P5

E♭mMaj7/B♭second inversionposition 6
6fr5157♭35DADGBE
7515♭35C2C3C4C5

Strummed from the lowest string to the highest, this grip sounds B♭, E♭, B♭, D, G♭ and B♭, which are the degrees 5 1 5 7 ♭3 5 rather than the 1 ♭3 5 7 of the written chord. The lowest note is the 5 rather than the root, so this grip is in second inversion, written E♭mMaj7/B♭. It has the same notes as the root-position grip, but with B♭ in the bass it sounds different. With B♭ in the bass and six strings sounding four notes, the 5 appears more than once.

Between the strings you sound: P4›P5›M3›M3›M3

E♭mMaj7/Dthird inversionposition 1
5157♭3DADGBE
77515♭3C2C3C4C5

Strummed from the lowest string to the highest, this grip sounds D, B♭, E♭, B♭, D and G♭, which are the degrees 7 5 1 5 7 ♭3 rather than the 1 ♭3 5 7 of the written chord. The lowest note is the 7 rather than the root, so this grip is in third inversion, written E♭mMaj7/D. It has the same notes as the root-position grip, but with D in the bass it sounds different. With D in the bass and six strings sounding four notes, the 5 and 7 appear more than once.

Between the strings you sound: m6›P4›P5›M3›M3

Three shapes for E♭mMaj7 on drop D guitar: E♭mMaj7/G♭, E♭mMaj7/B♭ and E♭mMaj7/D.

E♭mMaj7 has no root-position shape on drop D guitar, because there is no way to put the root below the other notes and still reach the whole chord. A chord with a note other than the root at the bottom is called an inversion, and every way of playing E♭mMaj7 here is one. That comes from how this instrument is tuned, not from the chord itself. When a grip sounds a note more than once, the fretting hand decides which note that is, not the harmony.

E♭, G♭, B♭ and D on the whole neck

DADGBE12345678910111213141571♭3571571♭3571♭3571571♭3571♭357♭3571♭3

This diagram marks every E♭, G♭, B♭ and D on the first fifteen frets of the drop D guitar.

Every grip above is a handful of the notes on this diagram, and none of them uses a note that is not shown here.