A Minor 9b5 (Am9b5)

Download MIDI
1+b3+b5+b7+9
ACGBEb
4 4

Notes in A Minor 9b5

A (root)CEbGB

Inversions

Same notes as A Minor 9b5, with a different chord tone as the lowest note. Useful for smoother movement between chords instead of jumping around the keyboard.

Root position

A in the bass

ACGBEb

1st inversion

C in the bass (Am9b5/C)

CGBAEb

2nd inversion

Eb in the bass (Am9b5/Eb)

GBACEb

3rd inversion

G in the bass (Am9b5/G)

GBACEb

4th inversion

B in the bass (Am9b5/B)

BACGEb

Open voicings

A close-position chord like A Minor 9b5 can sound cluttered in the middle of the keyboard. Jazz players open it up by dropping one note down an octave, spreading the same notes wider without changing the chord.

Drop 2

G on the bottom

GACBEb

Drop 3

Eb on the bottom

ACGBEb

A Minor 9b5 consists of A, C, Eb, G and B, played at the same time.

A half diminished seventh with a ninth added. It softens the searching quality of m7b5 into something smoother and more modern, and it works well as the ii chord in a minor key ii-V-i when you want a fuller sound than the plain seventh.

Difficulty: Advanced. Category: Extended chords. Click any highlighted key on the diagram above, or tab to it and press Enter, to hear that single note. Inversions mark the bass note with a contrasting outline.