B♭m

B♭1D♭♭3F5

The major triad with its third lowered by a half step.

Written the other way round it is A♯m — 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

3111

moderate

Fig. 3

311x

easy

Fig. 4

3114

moderate

Fig. 5

3564

hard

Fig. 6

xa98

easy

What is true of it

B♭m is B♭, D♭ and F — 1, b3 and 5 counted from B♭.

On an instrument that cannot reach all 3, the 5 goes first, in that order.

The easiest of the 5 fingerings below is 3111: 4 fingers, held at the 1st 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♭m/D♭

x111

second inversion

B♭m/F

x564

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♭major B♭dimdiminished B♭augaugmented B♭5power chord B♭sus2suspended second B♭sus4suspended fourth

Cm C♯m D♭m Dm D♯m E♭m Em Fm all 374