D Half-diminished
Dm7♭5
Notes
D · F · A♭ · C
Intervals
- RootD (1P)
- Minor 3rdF (3m)
- Diminished 5thA♭ (5d)
- Minor 7thC (7m)
Fretboard
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Voicings & shapes
Drop-2 voicings (12)
Drop-3 voicings (8)
About
The D half-diminished (D–F–A♭–C), also written Dø7, is the naturally occurring chord on the seventh degree of a major scale and on the second degree of a natural minor scale. Its primary role in jazz is as the ii chord in a minor ii–V–i: Dm7♭5 → G7 → Cm. The A♭ is the defining color tone — without it, the chord collapses to a plain Dm7. The 3rd and ♭7 together establish the minor seventh quality. On guitar, the fifth is essential and should not be omitted, since the ♭5 is precisely what distinguishes this chord. Compared to Ddim7, m7♭5 is more grounded due to the natural (rather than doubly-flatted) seventh, giving it a somber but less frantic character.
Chord diagrams
D Half-diminished voicing charts — tap a sheet to open it full size to save or print.
Similar chords
Chords sharing two or more notes with this one, ranked by overlap.
Scales containing this chord
- D Blues (deg 1)
- D Locrian (I)
- A Diminished (deg 4)
- A Harmonic Minor (IV)
- A♭ Lydian (IV)
- B♭ Mixolydian (III)
- C Diminished (deg 2)
- C Harmonic Minor (II)
- C Natural Minor (II)
- E♭ Diminished (deg 8)
- E♭ Major (VII)
- E♭ Melodic Minor (VII)
- F Dorian (VI)
- F Melodic Minor (VI)
- F♯ Diminished (deg 6)
- G Phrygian (V)
Scales whose notes include every chord tone. The Roman numeral (or scale degree) marks the chord root’s position in the scale.