B♭m7

B♭1D♭♭3F5A♭♭7

Minor triad with a minor seventh. The same four notes as a major sixth chord a third above.

Written the other way round it is A♯m7 — 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

3544

moderate

Fig. 3

3141

hard · no 5

Fig. 4

3144

hard · no 5

Fig. 5

314x

easy · no 5

Fig. 6

xa9b

easy · no 5

What is true of it

B♭m7 is B♭, D♭, F and A♭ — 1, b3, 5 and b7 counted from B♭.

These are also the notes of D♭6/B♭ and C♯6/B♭. Which name is right depends on what is underneath and what came before — the notes alone do not decide.

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

The easiest of the 5 fingerings below is 3544: 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.

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♭m7/D♭

6868

second inversion

B♭m7/F

aa9b

third inversion

B♭m7/A♭

1111

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♭7dominant seventh B♭maj7major seventh B♭m(maj7)minor major seventh B♭major B♭mminor B♭dimdiminished

Cm7 C♯m7 D♭m7 Dm7 D♯m7 E♭m7 Em7 Fm7 all 374