Eb7 piano chord, Eb dominant 7th notes and fingering.

The Eb7 piano chord is Eb dominant 7th: Eb, G, Bb and Db. It is the Eb major triad (Eb, G, Bb) with a minor seventh (Db) added on top, ten semitones above the root. A plain 7 in a chord name, as in Eb7, always means this flat seventh, not the major seventh.

How to play Eb7 on piano

1. Find Eb on the keyboard. Eb is the second black key of the pair, just before E. It is the same key as D#.
2. With your right hand, put finger 1 on Eb, finger 2 on G, finger 3 on Bb and finger 5 on Db. Finger 1 is the thumb.
3. Press all four keys together. In root position they run from Eb4 to Db5, a reach of 10 semitones. Play chord sounds them together and Arpeggio sounds them one by one, from the bottom up.
4. Click Left hand to see the left hand. It plays Eb3 to Db4, one octave lower: Eb with finger 5, G with finger 3, Bb with finger 2, Db with finger 1.
5. The cards under the keyboard hold the four positions, with Eb, G, Bb and Db at the bottom in turn. Play and Arpeggio on a card play that position.
6. Open Note names. As written the keys read Eb, G, Bb and Db. Sharps shows D#, G, A# and C#, and Flats shows Eb, G, Bb and Db. This chord is written with flats, so As written and Flats match.

How Eb7 is built

Counted from the root, the formula is 0, 4, 7, 10. Stacked on each other the gaps are 4 + 3 + 3: a major third, a minor third and another minor third. The third (G) and the seventh (Db) are 6 semitones apart, which is a tritone, the most tense interval in the chord. That pair is what makes the chord lean toward a resolution.

Worked example: the pitch of Eb4. On a piano tuned to A4 = 440 Hz, a note 6 semitones below A4 has the frequency 440 × 2^(-6/12), which is about 311.13 Hz. G4 is 2 semitones below A4, so 440 × 2^(-2/12) gives about 392.00 Hz.

Eb7 and D#7 are the same chord on the keyboard: the same four keys sound for both. Written as D#7 it would need a double accidental (D#, F##, A# and C#), so Eb is the name that sheet music uses. The key of Eb major has 3 flats, while the key of D# major would need double accidentals.

What the keys look like under your hand

The white keys beside Eb are D on the left and E on the right, a semitone each way. Three of the four notes are black keys (Eb, Bb and Db) and one is a white key (G). Your thumb lands on Eb, a black key with D and E beside it. Keep the thumb relaxed and slightly curved, and let the wrist stay level instead of twisting to reach. Your little finger plays Db, a black key with C and D beside it. The little finger is short, so let the hand lean a little toward its edge and aim for the middle of the key. Finger 3 presses Bb, a black key between A and B. The middle fingers are the longest, so they reach black keys most easily.

Eb7 inversions and fingering

Eb7 has four positions. In root position Eb is at the bottom. In the first inversion, G is at the bottom and the chord is written Eb7/G. In the second inversion, Bb is at the bottom and the chord is written Eb7/Bb. In the third inversion, Db is at the bottom and the chord is written Eb7/Db. The tightest reach, 8 semitones from the lowest key to the highest, is the first inversion. The widest, at 10, is the root position.

The keys that hold Eb7

Eb7 fits two of the major and natural minor keys that have a standard key signature, which means every note of it comes from that key's scale. The simplest is Ab major, with 4 flats, where it is chord V7.

Progressions that use Eb7, with the chord numbers and the chords in that key:

• Ab major: Imaj7-IVmaj7-V7-Imaj7, which is Abmaj7, Dbmaj7, Eb7, Abmaj7, the three-chord cadence of folk, rock and blues.
• F minor: i7-VII7-VImaj7-VII7, which is Fm7, Eb7, Dbmaj7, Eb7, a rocking figure between VII and VI.
• Ab major: vi7-IVmaj7-Imaj7-V7, which is Fm7, Dbmaj7, Abmaj7, Eb7, the four-chord loop started from the vi chord.

Blues: a 12-bar blues in Eb is built on Eb7, Ab7 and Bb7.

Here is a worked example in Ab major. The chord before Eb7 in the first progression above is Dbmaj7 (Db, F, Ab and C). From Dbmaj7 in root position, the closest way to reach Eb7 is its third inversion (Db, Eb, G and Bb, lowest note first): one note stays where it is, and the others move 5 semitones in total, counting each note against the note in the same place from the bottom.

Look at the top three notes of Eb7: G, Bb and Db make a G diminished chord (G, Bb and Db). A dominant 7th is a diminished triad with the root added underneath.

What Eb7 sounds like

The dominant 7th is restless. Its tritone between G and Db pulls toward a resolution, and the chord most naturally moves to Ab, a fifth below Eb. It is the sound of the blues too, where every chord can be a dominant 7th.

Here Eb7 is the V7 chord in Ab major and the VII7 chord in F minor. In a 12-bar blues in Eb the three chords are Eb7, Ab7 and Bb7. In minor keys the same chord appears as V7 of Ab minor, using the raised seventh of the harmonic minor scale.

A common mistake with Eb7

A common mistake is pressing D instead of Db on top, one semitone higher than the seventh of Eb7. That gives Ebmaj7 (Eb, G, Bb and D), which sounds soft where Eb7 sounds restless. Check the top note: it should be the lower of the two keys.

Chords to learn next

Chords close to Eb7: Eb major (the same chord without the seventh; shares Eb, G and Bb); Ebmaj7 (a major seventh instead; shares Eb, G and Bb); Ebm7 (a minor third instead; shares Eb, Bb and Db); Ab major (the chord it leads to; shares Eb).

Once Eb7 feels easy, play it and then Ab major to hear the chord resolve. For chords beyond these six types, and for guitar and ukulele shapes, use the chord finder. To play along with your computer keys, open the virtual piano. The piano chords page lists all 72 chords.