There are countless classic (and not-so-classic) songs that contain the B flat chord, making it essential to know how to play it!
There are multiple approaches to playing this chord, but two simple and accessible techniques for beginners are the E shape shortcut and fingerings presented here. Both use only three notes — known as triads — when creating their sound.
Root Note
The bb major chord is a triad, composed of a root note, major third and perfect fifth notes. This chord form serves as the building blocks for many other varieties; other variations include augmenting and diminishing chords with minor intervals (of 3 frets or less) added to major third, as well as dominant 7th suspended chords with major intervals (5 frets or greater) added to perfect fifth note.
The Bb major chord is one of the more frequently found in music, making it essential to learn its sound. Beginners will find it particularly helpful as this chord does not contain any sharps or flats – all notes found on keyboard are natural white notes! Plus it’s very easy to play – acting much like an E shape chord!
Beginners can start off by learning the chord in its original form before gradually switching keys and altering it for different sounds and feel. This will provide them with a good grasp on how the chord can be altered to change its sound and feel.
Make the bb major chord more engaging by augmenting it to form either a Bbm7 or Dm7 chord – both are extremely tense, adding drama and tension to music, often used by musicians to add dramatic effects in songs. Of the three chords mentioned here, Dm7 chord is considered to be most stable and powerful and often used when building songs.
To create a diminished chord, replace the perfect fifth with a minor second and replace its perfect fifth with a minor second instead. This creates a mournful sounding chord and is commonly found in blues music and classical pieces by Joseph Haydn (especially No 98 ) but can also be heard in modern and rock/pop songs – making the Bb diminished chord easy for any guitarist to finger and play!
Major Third
The Bb major chord is an essential starting point for beginners and is frequently used as the basis of more complex chords such as Bb sus 4 and Bb add 9. It is therefore an integral component of learning how to play chords properly.
All major chords are constructed by taking the first, third and fifth notes from their corresponding major scale and layering them up – in this instance bb major chord, this means its root note (Bb), third note (D), and fifth note (F). The interval between these three notes is known as a major third or m3 while between third and fifth note lies the perfect fifth or p5, also referred to as subtonic chord.
To play a bb major chord, you’ll need to bar all strings with your fingers – something beginner guitarists may find challenging but is ultimately worth their while: once this chord is under your fingers it will make more complex chords easier for you.
This chord can be played using various inversions, or ways of arranging guitar strings so as to produce different tones from it. For instance, you could play it either at its root notes (Bb major chord) or its inversion (either barre chord or add 6 chord). While both chords contain identical root notes but the inversion changes their sound drastically.
Another way to alter the sound of this chord is by adding a seventh note, known as an m7 major note that changes the harmony. You may have come across these types of chords before; popular examples can be seen in Queen’s “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” or Roy Orbison’s classic song, “You Got It”.
To create an m7 chord, start by flattening your index finger across all four strings on the fourth string to make a barre across all four. Next, place your thumb on the fifth string while middle finger hits second string – this completes your m7 chord! Perfect for use in funk songs as well as rock/pop classics like Good Vibrations by Beach Boys and “Now That We Found Love” by O’Jays.
Perfect Fifth
The fifth of a chord can have a profound effect on its sound, adding clarity and making it sound louder and more open than other chords. Because of this, popular musicians frequently utilize it – you’ll hear it featured in songs by Beach Boys or O’Jays for instance!
The perfect fifth is a musical interval containing seven semitones that is found above all major and minor triads and their extensions, providing consonance that exceeds any other interval in the scale other than unison and octave – this makes it appealing for its harmony when added to triads.
Perfect fifths are an important component in creating the sound of major chords, being more consonant than major thirds as they don’t contain as much dissonance.
As part of chord construction, it can be extremely helpful to know how to count and recognize intervals. Doing this can save time and effort when writing charts or notating music; in particular when building complex chords such as sevenths or augmented fifths. To find any interval on a staff, start at the tonic note (lowest note) and count lines or spaces above it until reaching desired interval, with last line or space showing its name: diminished major perfect or augmented.
For example, Bb major chords contain perfect fifths that make up their root notes; counting five spaces from the tonic allows you to locate this root note easily. Once found, identify which triad inversion uses it as its basis – something easily accomplished through practice! For playing Bb/D slash chords using these notes in your left hand bass note D as bass note before placing thumb on Bb, middle finger on D and fifth finger on F and placing thumb on Bb again before using middle finger D and fifth finger on D and fifth finger on F respectively.
This chord is an ideal starting point and will serve you well throughout your guitar playing career. Once you’ve mastered this shape, explore other shapes in this lesson to gain more knowledge on constructing different types of triads.
Major Seventh
A major seventh chord is a major triad with the addition of a seventh note – or major seventh – and can be described as any major triad with this added note, such as root, third, fifth and seventh notes from the scale; plus one extra seventh note added at the top for dominance purposes. A major seventh chord can act like any major triad but contains one additional note called its dominant note which can overpower other chords within its key.
It’s an ideal chord for learning because it can be found across many genres of music – jazz songs, pop tracks and rock hits like Coldplay’s A Sky Full of Stars all use it as part of their melodies and soundscapes. Additionally, learning this chord will add tension and drama to your playing.
The Bb major seventh is an easy chord to play in three inversions, giving you plenty of musical possibilities with just one chord. While its placement of seventh can make it challenging to finger, once you master it it becomes effortless. If it helps make fingering it easier you could try using either an E-shape or barre shape instead; otherwise you could practice with ChordBank’s Chord Coach who will listen in and guide your fingers step-by-step!
Once you’ve mastered the major 7th chord in Bb, try it in other keys to gain a sense for how it sounds and use this knowledge to craft your own chord progressions and begin writing melodies.
For further study on 7th chord construction, take a look at Getting to Know Minor and Major Triad Chord Quality Chart. Here you will discover the intervals between notes for each chord quality, how to name them based on these intervals, as well as a table showing which scale each chord scale belongs to with MP3 and Midi audio examples for each scale; additionally the table also illustrates how chords will be constructed using each of its chord shapes so you can compare differences among triad chord qualities.