Bb7 guitar chord
The standard grips this chord is usually shown with.
- Tap a note to hear it
- Arrows change position
- Fingers, notes or intervals
- Play the chord
About Bb7 — root position
Bb7 is Bb, D, F and Ab — Bb with the flat seventh added on top.
It sounds restless and pointed at something. The V of a key, and the whole vocabulary of the blues, where even the tonic is one of these.
Dominant — it points a fifth down.
Bb7 notes and formula
| Bb | D | F | Ab |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 5 | ♭7 |
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
Bb7 in root position puts Bb in the bass, which is the chord as it is spelled: the note it is named after underneath everything else.
6 of Bb7’s 7 common shapes do this:x13131653334686766x-x-8-10-9-10x-13-12-13-11-xx-13-15-13-15-13
Play Bb7 as a shell — root, third and seventh — and the spare string takes the b9 (Cb), the 9 (C), the #9 (C#), the #11 (E), the b13 (Gb) or the 13 (G).
All 7 common shapes as fret numbers, lowest string first. Hover or tap one to see it drawn.
- x13131, 1st fret, Bb, root position, top note F, barred
- xx3334, 3rd fret, F, 2nd inversion, top note Ab, barred
- 653334, 3rd fret, Bb, root position, top note Ab, barred
- 686766, 6th fret, Bb, root position, top note Bb, barred
- x-x-8-10-9-10, 8th fret, Bb, root position, top note D, all fretted
- x-13-12-13-11-x, 11th fret, Bb, root position, top note Bb, all fretted
- x-13-15-13-15-13, 13th fret, Bb, root position, top note F, barred
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.
In a phrase:Fm7→Bb7→Ebmaj7— the ii–V–I of 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 the major seventh), Bbm7 (the major third becomes the minor third), Bbadd9 (the flat seventh becomes the ninth), Bb6 (the flat seventh becomes the sixth) or Bb7sus4 (the major third becomes the fourth).
Bb7 is a dominant chord — root, major third, fifth, minor seventh. Dominant seventh chords on every root.
The common shapes and the derived voicings come from different places, and both are explained in how this site is built.