D♭6

D♭1F3A♭5B♭6

A major triad with a sixth added. The same four notes as a minor seventh chord a third below.

Written the other way round it is C♯6 — the same twelve keys on a piano, a different piece of notation.

on guitar on piano the scale

Every fingering that fits a hand

Fig. 2

x111

moderate · barre · no 5

Fig. 3

656x

easy · no 5

Fig. 4

6564

hard · no 5

Fig. 5

6868

moderate · barre

Fig. 6

6568

hard · no 5

What is true of it

D♭6 is D♭, F, A♭ and B♭ — 1, 3, 5 and 6 counted from D♭.

These are also the notes of B♭m7/D♭ and A♯m7/D♭. Which name is right depends on what is underneath and what came before — the notes alone do not decide.

On an instrument that cannot reach all 4, the 5 goes first, in that order.

The easiest of the 5 fingerings below is x111: one finger, one of them barring the 1st fret, held at the 1st fret.

None of them uses an open string, so this chord moves up the neck unchanged — the same shape 1 fret higher is the chord a semitone above.

2 of the 5 need a barre.

It leaves out the 5. 4 strings cannot carry 4 notes, and the 5 is the one this chord can lose without changing what it is.

1 string stays silent.

Where its notes are on the neck

Fig. 7 — first 12 frets

The brass dots are D♭, the root. Everything else is a chord tone with its degree printed in it.

With a different note underneath

first inversion

D♭6/F

x564

second inversion

D♭6/A♭

1111

third inversion

D♭6/B♭

3544

An inversion is the same chord with a different note lowest. The name changes to a slash name because the bass is what a listener hears as the foundation.

D♭ in other shapes

D♭m6minor sixth D♭major D♭mminor D♭dimdiminished

C6 D6 D♯6 E♭6 E6 F6 F♯6 G♭6 all 374