Chord

A Dominant b5

  • A7b5
Space plays and stops
Notes and intervals
AM3C#2EbM3G
Extends
A Dominant 7

A Dominant b5, written A7b5, is built from A, C#, Eb and G: the root, major 3rd, flat 5th and minor 7th.

Its 3rd and 7th, C# and G, are its guide tones: they say what kind of chord it is, so voicings are built around them and the root is often left to the bass. Eb7, a tritone away, has the same two notes the other way up, so it can stand in for A7b5 as its tritone substitute.

Scales that fit

  1. Mode of Melodic Minor

    A Lydian Dominant

  2. Mode of Whole Tone

    A Whole Tone

    The whole tone scale is in open, suspended harmony and works well with #5 chords.

Voicings All 14