Bb7 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.
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- Fingers, notes or intervals
- Play the chord
About Bb7 — open string voicings
Bb7 is Bb, D, F and Ab — Bb with the flat seventh added on top.
It sounds restless and pointed at something. The third and the flat seventh are a tritone apart and each moves by a semitone into the next chord; that is the engine of a cadence, and the whole vocabulary of the blues.
Bb7 notes and formula
| Bb | D | F | Ab |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 5 | ♭7 |
Dominant — it points a fifth down.
Also written Bbdom7 or Bb dominant 7. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play Bb7
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.
Bb7 has 6 of them, on strings 6-5-4-3-2-1, strings 6-4-3-2-1, strings 5-4-3-2-1, the bottom four strings and strings 6-5-4-3-2, from the 3rd fret up to the 6th — every inversion the chord has: Bb in the bass, D in the bass and Ab in the bass. The one to learn first is the Ab shape at the 3rd fret, which is the easiest grip here.
Start with x-x-8-10-9-10 — no barre. None of the shapes for Bb7 uses an open string, so every one of them is movable; the lowest sits at the 1st fret. 5 of the 7 need a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 1st fret to the 15th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| x13131 | 1st fret | Bb, root position | F | barred |
| xx3334 | 3rd fret | F, 2nd inversion | Ab | barred |
| 653334 | 3rd fret | Bb, root position | Ab | barred |
| 686766 | 6th fret | Bb, root position | Bb | barred |
| x-x-8-10-9-10 | 8th fret | Bb, root position | D | all fretted |
| x-13-12-13-11-x | 11th fret | Bb, root position | Bb | all fretted |
| x-13-15-13-15-13 | 13th fret | Bb, root position | F | barred |
The same notes rebuilt from scratch give 7 shell, 14 drop 2 and 9 drop 3 voicings, each on its own page.
Tensions. A shell of Bb7, root, third and seventh, leaves a string free, and the tones that belong over it are the b9 (Cb), the 9 (C), the #9 (C#), the #11 (E), the b13 (Gb) and the 13 (G).
How to use Bb7
Bb7 is the V of Eb, and that is where it goes if it goes anywhere: the third and the flat seventh are a tritone apart, and both resolve by a semitone into Eb.
Voice by voice, Bb7 → Eb. 2 voices move by a semitone, and one note is common to both chords.
| In Bb7 | Moves | In Eb |
|---|---|---|
| Bb, the root | stays where it is | Bb, the fifth |
| D, the major third | rises a semitone | Eb, the root |
| F, the fifth | falls a whole tone | Eb, the root |
| Ab, the flat seventh | falls a semitone | G, the major third |
In which keys. Every note of Bb7 belongs to C minor (the ♭VII) and Eb major (the V, the dominant).
What to play over Bb7
Every note of Bb7 is in Bb mixolydian, Bb lydian dominant and Bb half-whole diminished.
Chords near Bb7
Change one note of Bb7 and you have Bb (drop the flat seventh), Bbmaj7 (the flat seventh becomes a major seventh), Bbm7 (the major third becomes a minor third), Bbadd9 (the flat seventh becomes a ninth), Bb6 (the flat seventh becomes a sixth) or Bb7sus4 (the major third becomes a fourth).
Bb7 is a dominant chord — root, major third, fifth, minor seventh. Dominant seventh chords on every root.
On Bb7’s sound and use this page follows Edward Aldwell & Carl Schachter, Harmony and Voice Leading (Schirmer / Cengage, 4th ed., 2011). The shapes and the derived voicings come from different places, and both are explained in where the chords and the theory come from.