Bb7 guitar chord
Root, third and seventh: the guide tones fix the quality, so the fifth is dropped. That is what leaves a string free, so pick a tension to put on top.
- Tap a note to hear it
- Arrows change position
- Fingers, notes or intervals
- Play the chord
About Bb7 — shell 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
Root, third and seventh. The third and seventh, the guide tones, are what make the chord major, minor or dominant, so the fifth can go: it says nothing the symbol needs.
Three notes means a spare string, which is the real point. Put a tension on it.
Bb7 has 7 of them, on the low-middle three, the bottom three strings, strings 5-3-2 and strings 6-4-3, from open position up to the 13th — all in one inversion, so the bass note never moves. The one to learn first is the Bb shape at the nut, 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 14 drop 2, 9 drop 3 and 6 open string 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.