Bb6 guitar chord
An open string left ringing against a fretted grip. Because it costs no finger, it sounds a note the closed shape has none left for -- a tension on top, or a pedal root underneath. Either a familiar grip with open strings added, or a shape so sparse the open strings carry the chord. These belong to their key rather than to a shape, so D, A, G and E have many and Eb a handful.
- Tap a note to hear it
- Arrows change position
- Fingers, notes or intervals
- Play the chord
About Bb6 — open string voicings
Bb6 is Bb, D, F and G — Bb with a major sixth added on top.
It sounds warm, and finished without being sweet. It closes a tune as firmly as the triad does but without the maj7’s shine, which is why so many standards end on one.
Bb6 notes and formula
| Bb | D | F | G |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 5 | 6 |
Tonic — an ending chord.
Also written Bbmaj6, BbM6 or Bb major 6. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play Bb6
An open string left ringing against a fretted grip. It costs no finger, so it can sound a note the closed shape has none left for: a tension on top, or a pedal root underneath.
These belong to their key rather than to a shape: they cannot be moved up the neck. D, A, G and E have many; E♭ has a handful.
Bb6 has 6 of them, on strings 6-4-3-2-1, strings 5-4-3-2-1, the top four strings, the bottom four strings and strings 6-4-3-2, from the 3rd fret up to the 6th — every inversion the chord has: Bb in the bass, D in the bass and G in the bass. The one to learn first is the D shape at the 6th fret, which is the easiest grip here.
Start with 6x576x — no barre and low, at the 5th fret. None of the shapes for Bb6 uses an open string, so every one of them is movable; the lowest sits at the 1st fret. 6 of the 11 need a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 1st fret to the 15th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| x13333 | 1st fret | Bb, root position | G | barred |
| x53333 | 3rd fret | D, 1st inversion | G | barred |
| 655333 | 3rd fret | Bb, root position | G | barred |
| 353363 | 3rd fret | G, 6th in the bass | G | barred |
| 650066 | 5th fret | Bb, root position | Bb | barred |
| 6x576x | 5th fret | Bb, root position | F | all fretted |
| 6x8786 | 6th fret | Bb, root position | Bb | all fretted |
| 68x786 | 6th fret | Bb, root position | Bb | all fretted |
| x-x-8-10-8-10 | 8th fret | Bb, root position | D | all fretted |
| x-13-12-12-11-x | 11th fret | Bb, root position | Bb | all fretted |
| x-13-15-15-15-15 | 13th fret | Bb, root position | G | barred |
The same notes rebuilt from scratch give 7 shell, 15 drop 2 and 10 drop 3 voicings, each on its own page.
Tensions. A shell of Bb6, root, third and seventh, leaves a string free, and the tones that belong over it are the 9 (C) and the #11 (E).
How to use Bb6
How you get to it. The turn that lands on Bb6 is Cm7 to F7 — the ii and the V of Bb — and F7 shares its third and seventh with Cm7, so the hand barely moves between them.
In which keys. Every note of Bb6 belongs to C minor (the ♭VII), D minor (the ♭VI), Eb major (the V), F major (the IV), G minor (the ♭III) and Bb major (the I).
What to play over Bb6
Every note of Bb6 is in Bb major pentatonic, Bb major, Bb lydian, Bb mixolydian and Bb lydian dominant.
Chords near Bb6
Change one note of Bb6 and you have Bb (drop the sixth), Bbmaj7 (the sixth becomes a major seventh), Bbm6 (the major third becomes a minor third), Bbadd9 (the sixth becomes a ninth), Bb69 (add the ninth) or Bb7 (the sixth becomes a flat seventh).
Bb6 is a major chord — root, major third, fifth. Major chords on every root.
On Bb6’s sound and use this page follows Mark Levine, The Jazz Piano Book (Sher Music, 1989). The shapes and the derived voicings come from different places, and both are explained in where the chords and the theory come from.