Bbdim guitar chord

1st inversion · Db in the bass
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About Bbdim — inversions voicings

Bbdim is a minor triad with its 5th lowered to : Bb, Db and Fb. That makes two stacked minor thirds.

“Dim” names a three-note triad, not a diminished seventh chord. In a major key, it often appears as a borrowed minor-key ii or a passing chord.

Also written Bb°, Bbo or Bb diminished.

Bbdim inversions guitar chord diagram: Bb, Db, Fb, played x4232x
Bbdim inversions guitar chord voicing: x-4-2-3-2-x.

What an inversion is

How to use Bbdim

1A dark ii in a major key

I – ii° – I

In pop songs Bbdim nearly always sits on the second degree, borrowed from the minor key. Its fifth is the key’s flat sixth, and it falls a half step back to the fifth of Ab.

Listen for: The fifth of the I rises a half step and falls back. Every other voice is a neighbour too.

Heard in“Cara Mia”“The Air That I Breathe”“Sleep Walk” (going on to V)

2Between two positions of the I

I – vii°6 – I6

The commonest classical use of Bbdim: in first inversion, between B and the same chord with its third in the bass. It stretches the home chord while the bass climbs by step.

Listen for: The bass climbs a whole step twice, root to third of the I, while the notes above step down and back.

In which keys. Every note of Bbdim belongs to Ab minor and B major.

What to play over Bbdim

Useful scales

  • +EbFAb

    Contains Bbdim and adds fourth, fifth and flat seventh.

  • +CbEbGbAb

    Contains Bbdim and adds flat second, fourth, sharp fifth and flat seventh.

  • +CbDGbAb

    Contains Bbdim and adds flat second, major third, sharp fifth and flat seventh.

  • +CEbGbGA

    Contains Bbdim and adds second, fourth, sharp fifth, sixth and major seventh.

  • +CbDFGAb

    Contains Bbdim and adds flat second, major third, fifth, sixth and flat seventh.

Every scale

Chords near Bbdim

Change one note

  • 1st inversion
    1st inversion
    Fb → F

    Raise the flat fifth to the fifth.

    See Bbm chord →

Add a note

Diminished and half-diminished 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.

Midi Settings

7.5
Play Style
One pass of the pick from the lowest string up, everything left ringing.
Instrument
350
150

Style

Shows each chord the way this style would voice it, and marks which of its alternatives belong to the idiom.

Layout

Left Handed Mode