D♭m6

D♭1F♭♭3A♭5B♭6

A minor triad with a major sixth added, which is why it is not simply a minor chord with a flat seventh.

Written the other way round it is C♯m6 — 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

x101

open · no 5

Fig. 3

6464

hard · no 5

Fig. 4

6867

moderate · barre

Fig. 5

646x

easy · no 5

Fig. 6

6467

hard · no 5

What is true of it

D♭m6 is D♭, F♭, A♭ and B♭ — 1, b3, 5 and 6 counted from D♭.

These are also the notes of B♭m7♭5/D♭ and A♯m7♭5/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 x101: 2 fingers, held at the 1st fret.

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

1 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♭m6/F♭

x464

second inversion

D♭m6/A♭

1101

third inversion

D♭m6/B♭

3404

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♭6major sixth D♭major D♭mminor D♭dimdiminished

Cm6 Dm6 D♯m6 E♭m6 Em6 Fm6 F♯m6 G♭m6 all 374