Re: [Harp-L] Cm7b5 (no harp content, unless you consider music related to harp)

[Winslow Yerxa <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx>]

Say it out loud: C minor 7, flat 5. 

It's customary to put modifiers before the scale degree modified: 

Sharp 9, #9

Flat 5, b5

Major 3rd, M3

DIminished 4th, dim4

However, when we refer to specific notes, we put the modifiers sharp, flat, and natural after the note name:

C sharp

E flat

F natural.

The m7b5 chord used to be called "half-diminished", meaning a diminished triad with a minor seventh (as opposed to a true diminished seventh chord, which would have a diminished 7th, one semitone lower than a minor 7th). A minor triad with flat 5 is a diminished triad. So the term m7b5, while it mischaracterizes the triad involved, is a literally accurate description of scale degrees and is therefore not as mysterious as "half diminished."

Winslow

Winslow Yerxa

Author, Harmonica For Dummies ISBN 978-0-470-33729-5

--- On Thu, 9/18/08, michael rubin <michaelrubinharmonica@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
From: michael rubin <michaelrubinharmonica@xxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [Harp-L] Cm7b5 (no harp content, unless you consider music related to harp)
To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
Date: Thursday, September 18, 2008, 12:02 PM

Why do they write this chord out as Cm7b5?
Why not Cm75b?
Is it to separate the 7 and the 5 visually?
Michael Rubin
Michaelrubinharmonica.com
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