D♭m7

D♭1F♭♭3A♭5C♭♭7

Minor triad with a minor seventh. The same four notes as a major sixth chord a third above.

Written the other way round it is C♯m7 — 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

x102

open · no 5

Fig. 3

6877

hard

Fig. 4

6474

hard · no 5

Fig. 5

6477

hard · no 5

Fig. 6

647x

easy · no 5

What is true of it

D♭m7 is D♭, F♭, A♭ and C♭ — 1, b3, 5 and b7 counted from D♭.

These are also the notes of E6/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 x102: 2 fingers, held at the 1st fret.

1 of them use open strings, which is what makes a shape quiet to change to.

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♭m7/F♭

9b9b

second inversion

D♭m7/A♭

1102

third inversion

D♭m7/C♭

4444

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♭7dominant seventh D♭maj7major seventh D♭m(maj7)minor major seventh D♭major D♭mminor D♭dimdiminished

Cm7 Dm7 D♯m7 E♭m7 Em7 Fm7 F♯m7 G♭m7 all 374