Bb9 guitar chord
Playable, correctly spelled, and not how the chord is normally voiced. Right now this is the shapes that put a ninth, eleventh or thirteenth below the root.
- Tap a note to hear it
- Arrows change position
- Fingers, notes or intervals
- Play the chord
About Bb9 — uncommon voicings
Bb9 is Bb, D, F, Ab and C — Bb7 with the ninth stacked on top.
It sounds bright and full, still clearly pulling. The ninth adds height without softening the tritone underneath it, which is why funk and soul comp on this rather than on a plain 7.
Dominant — the same pull as a 7, with more colour.
Bb9 notes and formula
| Bb | D | F | Ab | C |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 5 | ♭7 | 9 |
Also written Bbdom9 or Bb dominant 9. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play Bb9
Five notes and four fingers, so something has to go. Keep D and Ab (they fix the quality) and C (what the symbol is about). Let F and Bb go, in that order — a perfect fifth says nothing the root has not, and in a band the bass has the root.
Play Bb9 as a shell — root, third and seventh — and the spare string takes the #11 (E), the b13 (Gb) or the 13 (G).
All 9 common shapes as fret numbers, lowest string first. Hover or tap one to see it drawn.
- x10111, open position, Bb, root position, top note F, barred
- x33334, 3rd fret, C, 9th in the bass, top note Ab, barred
- 633534, 3rd fret, Bb, root position, top note Ab, barred
- 6565xx, 5th fret, Bb, root position, top note C, all fretted
- 686568, 5th fret, Bb, root position, top note C, barred
- 686768, 6th fret, Bb, root position, top note C, barred
- xx8798, 7th fret, Bb, root position, top note C, all fretted
- 10-x-8-10-9-8, 8th fret, D, 1st inversion, top note C, all fretted
- x-13-12-13-13-13, 12th fret, Bb, root position, top note F, barred
How to use Bb9
Bb9 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→Bb9→Ebmaj7— the ii–V–I of Eb.
Voice by voice, Bb9 → Eb. 2 voices move by a semitone, and one note is common to both chords.
| In Bb9 | 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 |
| C, the ninth | falls a whole tone | Bb, the fifth |
In which keys. Every note of Bb9 belongs to C minor (the ♭VII) and Eb major (the V, the dominant).
What to play over Bb9
Every note of Bb9 is in Bb mixolydian and Bb lydian dominant.
Each of those is a page: the scale across the neck, and the chords it harmonises into — which is where Bb9 sits in it. Every scale.
Chords near Bb9
Change one note of Bb9 and you have Bbmaj9 (the flat seventh becomes the major seventh), Bbm9 (the major third becomes the minor third), Bbadd9 (drop the flat seventh), Bb69 (the flat seventh becomes the sixth), Bb7 (drop the ninth) or Bb9b5 (the fifth becomes the flat fifth).
Bb9 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.