E♭dim

E♭1G♭♭3B♭♭♭5

Two minor thirds stacked. The fifth is diminished, so it cannot be dropped without losing the chord.

Written the other way round it is D♯dim — 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

x320

open

Fig. 3

8656

hard

Fig. 4

865x

easy

Fig. 5

89b9

hard

What is true of it

E♭dim is E♭, G♭ and B♭♭ — 1, b3 and b5 counted from E♭.

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

The easiest of the 4 fingerings below is x320: 2 fingers, held at the 2nd fret.

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

1 string stays silent.

Where its notes are on the neck

Fig. 6 — first 12 frets

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

With a different note underneath

first inversion

E♭dim/G♭

x656

second inversion

E♭dim/B♭♭

2320

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.

E♭ in other shapes

E♭major E♭mminor E♭augaugmented E♭5power chord E♭sus2suspended second E♭sus4suspended fourth

Cdim C♯dim D♭dim Ddim Edim Fdim F♯dim G♭dim all 374