How to play B dominant 7th flat 5 chord on guitar
Shape 7878a7
Shape characteristics
Closed voicing
Every sounding string is fretted, with no open strings. Tight, controllable tone that responds well to palm muting and dynamic picking.
Mid-neck · fret 7-10
Balanced tone, with neither the ringing openness of first position nor the bright snap of the upper register. Common choice for rhythm work when you want a fuller, more compact sound.
Full six-string voicing
All six strings ring, giving you the biggest, most resonant version of this chord, ideal for strumming and solo acoustic contexts.
Bass: B · Top: B
The root is in the bass, so the chord sounds grounded and stable. This is the natural starting voicing for most progressions.
Compared to Shape 70x86x , this voicing uses an open chord and sits lower on the neck (starting at fret 6) and drops 2 strings for a tighter, more compact sound.
How to play this shape
- 1 Place the 1st finger on the 7th fret of the 1st string, 4th string, and 6th string in barre position
- 2 Place the 2nd finger on the 8th fret of the 5th string
- 3 Place the 3rd finger on the 8th fret of the 3rd string
- 4 Place the 4th finger on the 10th fret of the 2nd string
Frequently Asked Questions
What does "7878a7" mean?
The sequence 7878a7 is a highly compact guitar chord notation. It represents the fret played on each of the 6 strings, reading left-to-right from the thickest (lowest pitch) string to the thinnest (highest pitch) string: E, A, D, G, B, e.
- x means the string is muted or skipped entirely.
- 0 means the string is played "open" (without pressing over a fret).
- 1-9 represent standard fret numbers 1 to 9.
- a, b, c... represent frets 10, 11, 12, and higher (where a=10, b=11, c=12).
Can I play this B dominant 7th flat 5 shape anywhere else?
Yes! This specific layout is just one way to voice a B dominant 7th flat 5 chord. You can find all other variations in our chord shape library for B dominant 7th flat 5. Most guitarists choose different shapes based on whether they want a "brighter" or "deeper" sound, or which chord they are transitioning from.
Other shapes
Showing 8 of 14 playable shapes