E flat minor: scale and chords

The E flat minor scale

E♭ F G♭ A♭ B♭ C♭ D♭

Key signature of E flat minor: six flats, written in the order B♭ E♭ A♭ D♭ G♭ C♭, the same as G♭ major. Five of the seven notes are black keys on a piano; F and C♭ are white, and C♭ is the white key you know as B. Steps of the natural minor: W H W W H W W. E♭ minor is not the relative minor of E♭ major: that is C minor, three flats. E♭ minor is its parallel minor. Typed without the symbols: Eb minor, the chord Ebm.

E flat natural minor is the scale above. E flat harmonic minor raises the seventh, D♭ to D: E♭ F G♭ A♭ B♭ C♭ D. That one D turns the chord on the fifth degree major (B♭, B♭7), and it pulls back to E♭m. E flat melodic minor raises the sixth and the seventh on the way up, C♭ to C and D♭ to D: E♭ F G♭ A♭ B♭ C D, then comes down as the natural minor.

Play harmonic minor Play melodic minor

In Hz, from the keynote in octave 4: E♭4 311.1 · F4 349.2 · G♭4 370.0 · A♭4 415.3 · B♭4 466.2 · C♭5 493.9 · D♭5 554.4

On the piano, natural minor, one octave, thumbs only on the white keys F and C♭: right hand 3 1 2 3 4 1 2 3, left hand going up 2 1 4 3 2 1 3 2. Coming down, the same fingers backwards. The same fingers work for harmonic minor (D with RH 2, LH 3) and for melodic minor going up (C with the thumb in both hands).

The E flat minor pentatonic, E♭ G♭ A♭ B♭ D♭, is exactly the five black keys. Play only black keys over the loop and every note is in the key.

Play the scale

The E flat minor chord (E♭m) on guitar and piano

E♭ G♭ B♭

The E flat minor triad is E♭, G♭ and B♭: the root, a minor third up (3 semitones), a perfect fifth up (7 semitones). It's the i chord, the one a song in this key comes home to.

Guitar, barre: x 6 8 8 7 6 (low E to high E, x = not played). Index finger across the 6th fret from the A string; D and G at the 8th fret, B at the 7th. It's the open Am shape moved up 6 frets.

Without a barre: x x 1 3 4 2, the open Dm shape one fret up: E♭ on the D string, then B♭, E♭ and G♭. Up the neck: 11 13 13 11 11 11, the Em shape at the 11th fret. Tuned a half step down (E♭ standard, as Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan played), the open Em shape 0 2 2 0 0 0 sounds as E♭m.

Piano: E♭, G♭ and B♭, three black keys. E♭ is the right-hand key of the group of two black keys. Right hand 1 3 5, left hand 5 3 1. The inversions G♭ B♭ E♭ and B♭ E♭ G♭ are the same chord. First inversion G♭ B♭ E♭: right hand 1 2 5. Second inversion B♭ E♭ G♭: right hand 1 3 5.

E♭m7 (E flat minor 7) adds D♭: E♭ G♭ B♭ D♭, on guitar x 6 8 6 7 6. On piano E♭ G♭ B♭ D♭ are four black keys; or G♭ B♭ D♭ in the right hand over E♭ in the left.

Play E♭m

The chords in E flat minor

Tap a chord to hear it.

In harmonic minor the v becomes B♭ (B♭ D F) or B♭7, and the chord on the seventh becomes D° (D F A♭): most E♭ minor music borrows that D. C♭ is fingered on guitar as a B chord, x 2 4 4 4 2; the key spells it C♭ because every letter appears once and B is already B♭. E♭m is also the ii of D♭ major, the iii of C♭ major (written D♯m in B major), the vi of G♭ major, the iv of B♭ minor and the v of A♭ minor.

E flat minor chord progressions

• i–VI–III–VII: E♭m C♭ G♭ D♭. The loop above: pop's four chords, started from the minor.
• i–iv–V–i: E♭m A♭m B♭ E♭m. The classical cadence, with the major V from harmonic minor.
• i–VII–VI–V: E♭m D♭ C♭ B♭. The Andalusian cadence, stepping down to the major V.
• i–v: E♭m B♭m7. Two chords back and forth, the vamp under Take Five.
• ii–V–i: Fm7♭5 B♭7 E♭m7. The jazz minor turnaround.

Keys that mix with E♭ minor

On the Camelot wheel E♭ minor is 2A (Open Key 7m). Tracks in these keys mix without a clash:

• 2B F♯ major relative major, written G♭ major in sheet music: the same seven notes
• 1A G♯ minor one step down
• 3A B♭ minor one step up
• 4A F minor two steps up, the energy boost

Same keynote, the other mode: E♭ major (5B), three notes apart.

Where E♭ minor sits

Choir parts (soprano C4–G5, alto G3–D5, tenor C3–G4, bass F2–D4, where two part-writing guides agree): E♭4–E♭5 fits the soprano part; E♭3–E♭4 fits the tenor part; no whole E♭-to-E♭ octave fits the alto or bass parts. Find your own range.

As a sub or an 808, the keynote is E♭1 at 38.9 Hz, or E♭2 at 77.8 Hz an octave up. Tune an 808 to E♭.

What plays

Drums, an organ bass and a pluck, the Brumm app's own sounds, four bars at 123 BPM, one chord per bar. The arrows move bass and chords a semitone; the drums stay.

Relative minor of E flat major, relative major of E flat minor

The relative minor of E flat major is C minor: three flats, the same notes as E♭ major. E♭ minor is E♭ major's parallel minor: the same keynote, three notes lower (G♭, C♭, D♭). The relative major of E flat minor is G♭ major, six flats; the Camelot wheel labels it F♯ major (2B), the same keys on a piano (F♯ major). The parallel major is E♭ major.

Is it E flat minor or D sharp minor?

Both exist, and on a piano they are the same keys. E♭ minor writes six flats; D♯ minor writes six sharps (F♯ C♯ G♯ D♯ A♯ E♯) and the notes D♯ E♯ F♯ G♯ A♯ B C♯. It's the one minor key where both spellings cost the same, so composers pick by context: D♯ minor's harmonic minor needs C𝄪 (C double sharp), E♭ minor's only a D. Bach wrote No. 8 of The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I, with the prelude in E♭ minor and the fugue in D♯ minor. Scriabin's Étude Op. 8 No. 12 (1894) is written in D♯ minor. Chord charts and lead sheets almost always write E♭m.

Is a piece in E flat minor or G flat major?

Both write six flats. Look for D naturals, the raised seventh of harmonic minor (they make B♭ major chords), and for the chord the piece ends on: E♭m means E♭ minor, G♭ means G♭ major. A piece can start on another chord, such as A♭m (iv), and still be in E♭ minor.

E flat minor on guitar: capo, tuning, scale box

No open string of a guitar is E♭, and only the open B (as C♭) is in the key, so there is no open-position E♭m. Three ways round it: barre chords as above; tune every string a half step down and play E minor shapes; or put a capo on the 1st fret and play D minor shapes, where Dm B♭ F C sound as E♭m C♭ G♭ D♭, the loop on this page.

The E flat minor pentatonic box sits at the 11th fret, two notes per string: low E 11 14 · A 11 13 · D 11 13 · G 11 13 · B 11 14 · high E 11 14. The roots are the 11th fret on both E strings and the 13th on the D string.

Songs and pieces in E flat minor

• Take Five, Dave Brubeck Quartet (Time Out, 1959; written by Paul Desmond), in 5/4.
• J. S. Bach, Prelude in E♭ minor, The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I, BWV 853.
• Chopin, Polonaise in E♭ minor, Op. 26 No. 2.
• Rachmaninoff, Étude-tableau in E♭ minor, Op. 39 No. 5.
• Prokofiev, Symphony No. 6 (1947).

Pop seldom puts six flats on paper. A band tuned a half step down plays E minor shapes and the record comes out in E♭ minor, so song-key lists often disagree by a semitone. Trust the recording: hum its home note into the note reader.

Is E flat minor the hardest key? Hard to read, easy to play

Hard to read: six flats, and a C♭ that catches anyone looking for B. Easy under the hand: five black keys and two white ones, so the long fingers lie on the black keys and the thumbs on F and C♭. As for mood, in equal temperament every minor key has the same intervals, so E♭ minor is A minor moved six semitones; what changes is the height of the keynote and which open strings ring. Christian Schubart's key characters (written in the 1780s, printed 1806) give the key, under its name D♯ minor, "brooding despair" and "blackest depression" (Rita Steblin's translation, 1983); he wrote in a time when tunings made keys really sound different.

For a producer: the keynote as a sub, E♭1 at 38.9 Hz, is below what phone and laptop speakers play, so on them you hear the 808's overtones at 77.8 and 116.7 Hz, not the note. Not sure a melody is minor? Major or minor plays both. To move a song into or out of E♭ minor: transpose.

Then hum over it

The hum button opens Brumm with a short line in the key over a beat. Hum yours and it becomes an instrument. No account, no upload.

Sources

Scales and chords: Open Music Theory, musictheory.net. Camelot, Open Key: Mixed In Key, Mixgraph. Open strings: Wikipedia. Choir parts: Open Music Theory, Geneseo. Guitar shapes: Wikipedia, Barre chord. Hz: A4 = 440 Hz, ISO 16.

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