B♭7

B♭1D3F5A♭♭7

Major triad, minor seventh. The chord that wants to resolve a fourth up.

Written the other way round it is A♯7 — the same twelve keys on a piano, a different piece of notation.

on guitar on piano the scale

Every fingering that fits a hand

Fig. 2

3545

moderate

Fig. 3

324x

easy · no 5

Fig. 4

3241

hard · no 5

Fig. 5

3245

hard · no 5

Fig. 6

xaab

moderate · barre · no 5

What is true of it

B♭7 is B♭, D, F and A♭ — 1, 3, 5 and b7 counted from B♭.

On an instrument that cannot reach all 4, the 5 goes first, in that order.

The easiest of the 5 fingerings below is 3545: 4 fingers, held at the 3rd fret.

None of them uses an open string, so this chord moves up the neck unchanged — the same shape 1 fret higher is the chord a semitone above.

1 of the 5 need a barre.

Where its notes are on the neck

Fig. 7 — first 12 frets

The brass dots are B♭, the root. Everything else is a chord tone with its degree printed in it.

With a different note underneath

first inversion

B♭7/D

7868

second inversion

B♭7/F

aaab

third inversion

B♭7/A♭

1211

An inversion is the same chord with a different note lowest. The name changes to a slash name because the bass is what a listener hears as the foundation.

B♭ in other shapes

B♭maj7major seventh B♭m7minor seventh B♭m(maj7)minor major seventh B♭major B♭mminor B♭dimdiminished

C7 C♯7 D♭7 D7 D♯7 E♭7 E7 F7 all 374