Ebm7 piano chord, Eb minor 7th notes and fingering.

The Ebm7 piano chord is Eb minor 7th: Eb, Gb, Bb and Db. It is the Eb minor triad (Eb, Gb, Bb) with a minor seventh (Db) added on top, ten semitones above the root. Chord charts write it as Ebm7 or Ebmin7.

How to play Ebm7 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 Gb, 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, Gb with finger 3, Bb with finger 2, Db with finger 1.
5. The cards under the keyboard hold the four positions, with Eb, Gb, 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, Gb, Bb and Db. Sharps shows D#, F#, A# and C#, and Flats shows Eb, Gb, Bb and Db. This chord is written with flats, so As written and Flats match.

How Ebm7 is built

Counted from the root, the formula is 0, 3, 7, 10. Stacked on each other the gaps are 3 + 4 + 3: a minor third, a major third and another minor third. Leave out the root and the top three notes, Gb, Bb and Db, make a major triad: Gb major. That is why Ebm7 and Gbmaj7 look so alike on the keyboard.

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. Gb4 is 3 semitones below A4, so 440 × 2^(-3/12) gives about 369.99 Hz.

Ebm7 and D#m7 are the same chord on the keyboard: the same four keys sound for both. Written as D#m7 it reads D#, F#, A# and C#. The key of Eb minor has 6 flats and the key of D# minor has 6 sharps.

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. All four notes are black keys (Eb, Gb, Bb and Db), so every finger lands on a raised key and the hand sits further back, toward the fallboard. 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 2 presses Gb, a black key between F and G. The middle fingers are the longest, so they reach black keys most easily. Finger 3 presses Bb, a black key between A and B. The middle fingers are the longest, so they reach black keys most easily.

Ebm7 inversions and fingering

Ebm7 has four positions. In root position Eb is at the bottom. In the first inversion, Gb is at the bottom and the chord is written Ebm7/Gb. In the second inversion, Bb is at the bottom and the chord is written Ebm7/Bb. In the third inversion, Db is at the bottom and the chord is written Ebm7/Db. The tightest reach, 8 semitones from the lowest key to the highest, is the second inversion. The widest, at 10, is the root position.

The keys that hold Ebm7

Ebm7 fits six 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 Db major, with 5 flats, where it is chord ii7.

Progressions that use Ebm7, with the chord numbers and the chords in that key:

• Db major: ii7-V7-Imaj7, which is Ebm7, Ab7, Dbmaj7, the ii-V-I, the standard jazz resolution.
• Bb minor: i7-iv7-v7-i7, which is Bbm7, Ebm7, Fm7, Bbm7, the minor-key cadence.
• Gb major: Imaj7-V7-vi7-IVmaj7, which is Gbmaj7, Db7, Ebm7, Cbmaj7, the four-chord loop heard in a great deal of pop.

Here is a worked example in Db major. The chord before Ebm7 in the first progression above is Dbmaj7 (Db, F, Ab and C). From Dbmaj7 in root position, the closest way to reach Ebm7 is its root position (Eb, Gb, Bb and Db, lowest note first): no note stays in place, and the notes move 6 semitones in total, counting each note against the note in the same place from the bottom.

The same four keys can be named a second way. Ebm7 holds the same notes as Gb6 (Gb, Bb, Db and Eb). The name you read depends on which note is lowest: with Eb at the bottom it is Ebm7, with Gb at the bottom it is Gb6.

What Ebm7 sounds like

Minor 7th chords are mellow. The added seventh softens the plain minor triad, so the chord feels smoother and less heavy. You hear them in jazz, soul, R and B and pop, and as the ii chord of a ii-V-I.

Ebm7 is the ii7 chord in Db major, the iv7 chord in Bb minor and the vi7 chord in Gb major.

A common mistake with Ebm7

A common mistake is pressing G instead of Gb, one semitone higher than the third of Ebm7. That gives Eb7 (Eb, G, Bb and Db), a dominant 7th. If the chord sounds brighter and more tense than you expected, the third is the note to check.

Chords to learn next

Chords close to Ebm7: Eb minor (the same chord without the seventh; shares Eb, Gb and Bb); Eb7 (a major third instead; shares Eb, Bb and Db); Gbmaj7, listed as F#maj7 (shares three notes with it); Gb major, listed as F# major (the major triad on top of it; shares Gb, Bb and Db).

Once Ebm7 feels easy, play it and then Ab7 to hear a ii-V move. 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.