Bb is Bb, D and F. The is the note that makes the triad major.
uses the instead. To hear the difference, raise that note one fret and let become Bb.
The minor third rises by one fret to become the major third. Every other note stays the same.
The same half step gives Bb an important job in a minor key. It can lead to , with its 3rd rising one fret to the new root.
Also written Bbmaj, BbM or Bb major.
The chord a minor scale builds on its fifth degree is minor, but Bb is what gets played there. Its major third is the leading tone, a half step below the root of Ebm; without it the chord doesn’t sound like a dominant.
Listen for: The leading tone rises a half step to the root of the i. On the minor v the same string is a whole step below it, and the pull is gone.
Bb is the IV of F, which is the IV of C: two plagal steps in a row, each a fourth up. The same pair of neighbour notes falls in each step, a rock staple since the mid-sixties.
Listen for: One voice steps down twice, a half step and then a whole step, from the flat seventh of the key to its fifth.
Heard in“Gloria”“I Can’t Explain”“Hey Jude” (coda)
In which keys. Every note of Bb belongs to C minor, D minor, Eb major, F major, G minor and Bb major.
Contains Bb and adds second and sixth.
Contains Bb and adds second, fourth, sixth and major seventh.
Contains Bb and adds second, sharp eleventh, sixth and major seventh.
Adds second, fourth, sixth and flat seventh. The flat seventh pushes the sound toward a dominant chord.
Adds second, sharp eleventh, sixth and flat seventh, for a dominant sharp-eleventh color.
The common shapes and the derived voicings come from different places, and both are explained in how this site is built.
Shows each chord the way this style would voice it, and marks which of its alternatives belong to the idiom.