F Half-diminished
Fm7b5
Notes
F · Ab · Cb · Eb
Intervals
- RootF (1P)
- Minor 3rdAb (3m)
- Diminished 5thCb (5d)
- Minor 7thEb (7m)
Fretboard
On the fretboard, B represents Cb.
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About
The F half-diminished (F–A♭–C♭–E♭), also written Fø7, 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: Fm7♭5 → B♭7 → E♭m. The C♭ is the defining color tone — without it, the chord collapses to a plain Fm7. 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 Fdim7, m7♭5 is more grounded due to the natural (rather than doubly-flatted) seventh, giving it a somber but less frantic character.
Similar chords
Chords sharing two or more notes with this one, ranked by overlap.
Scales containing this chord
- F Blues (deg 1)
- A Diminished (deg 6)
- A♭ Diminished (deg 7)
- A♭ Melodic Minor (VI)
- C Diminished (deg 4)
- C Harmonic Minor (IV)
- E♭ Diminished (deg 2)
- E♭ Harmonic Minor (II)
- E♭ Natural Minor (II)
- F♯ Diminished (deg 8)
- F♯ Major (VII)
- F♯ Melodic Minor (VII)
- F Locrian (I)
- A♭ Dorian (VI)
- B Lydian (IV)
- B♭ Phrygian (V)
- D♭ Mixolydian (III)
Scales whose notes include every chord tone. Roman numeral marks the chord root’s position in the scale; dashed badges aren’t linked yet.