D♭m7♭5

D♭1F♭♭3A♭♭♭5C♭♭7

A diminished triad with a minor seventh rather than a diminished one — half diminished, and not the same chord as dim7.

Written the other way round it is C♯m7♭5 — the same twelve keys on a piano, a different piece of notation.

on ukulele on piano the scale

Every fingering that fits a hand

Fig. 2

x45000

easy

Fig. 3

x42000

easy

Fig. 4

x42003

easy

Fig. 5

x4200x

easy

Fig. 6

x45400

moderate · barre

What is true of it

D♭m7♭5 is D♭, F♭, A♭♭ and C♭ — 1, b3, b5 and b7 counted from D♭.

A♭♭ is a double flat, and it has to be: every letter from D♭ upwards is used once, so the b5 cannot be written any other way.

These are also the notes of Em6/D♭. Which name is right depends on what is underneath and what came before — the notes alone do not decide.

The easiest of the 5 fingerings below is x45000: 2 fingers, held at the 4th 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.

1 of the 5 need a barre.

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♭5/F♭

045000

second inversion

D♭m7♭5/A♭♭

342000

third inversion

D♭m7♭5/C♭

x22020

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♭m7minor seventh D♭major D♭mminor D♭dimdiminished

Cm7♭5 Dm7♭5 D♯m7♭5 E♭m7♭5 Em7♭5 Fm7♭5 F♯m7♭5 G♭m7♭5 all 374