This interactive piano chart displays notes for playing blues and jazz with the b flat minor 7 chord, including its inversions.
Every 7th chord is constructed by using the first, third and fifth notes from any given scale as building blocks for its composition. Its quality can be assessed based on how far its root notes are away from these three notes using an interval table calculation.
Scales
B flat minor is a diatonic scale with five flats, meaning its notes may be played in any key without accidentals – giving this scale endless versatility in creating chords from major and dominant to minor and diminished chords. We will use C major as our basis in this lesson in order to construct 7th chords that harmonize with this diatonic scale.
Step one in creating the B flat minor scale involves identifying its notes on your piano keyboard, adding any necessary flat(b) or sharp(#) accidentals as necessary. Each scale degree will then be given its own letter name that corresponds with its Roman numeral number – for instance, Bb is designated chord root/start note while subsequent scale degrees will use roman numeral names instead.
Give each chord its own name to make remembering its sequence easier; for instance, the B flat minor triad comprises three notes, from left to right: root (B), third (D), and fifth (F). As its sound has major overtones, this triad can be considered major.
Major triads feature the same note intervals as minor ones, but with larger distances between its root and third notes for an more dramatic and intense sound.
Contrarily, the B melodic minor scale contains all of the same notes as its B natural minor equivalent; however, when ascending and descending respectively, its sixth and seventh tones raise when ascending and lower when descending – this makes playing it slightly more challenging but adds richness of tone to this scale.
The B flat minor pentatonic scale contains all of the same notes as its B natural pentatonic counterpart, with one exception: F# is raised by half step to A, creating what’s often referred to as the jazz scale because it allows musicians to improvise melodies that incorporate mixolydian harmony but with an exotic sound.
Inversions
The b flat minor 7 chord is composed of three major triads joined together with an added fifth (flat seventh). This gives it a distinct sound and makes it one of the more commonly seen minor scale 7th chords in jazz and blues music.
Root position Bbm7 chord is one of three inversions of the b flat minor 7, most often found in blues songs and commonly known by its abbreviation: Bbm7 for short. This chord can also be found as an inverted version known as Bbm7-V7 inversion, giving this chord three distinct sounds when played chromatically.
The second inversion of the b flat minor 7 chord, known as an inverted b flat minor 7 chord or Bbm7c for short, can often be found in jazz compositions but less frequently elsewhere in music genres. Meanwhile, its third inversion, known as diminished b flat minor 7 or Dm7 chord for short is often employed in more intricate arrangements in jazz music, particularly modern jazz pieces.
Each of the seven chords found within a scale has its own individual character, determined by which notes form its basis. Alongside traditional chord qualities like Major, Dominant and Minor triad chords, each also boasts note interval qualities called diminished, minor major perfect and augmented that give each a distinctive sound.
All these various note interval qualities can be combined together in various ways to form the various kinds of 7th chords found within a scale. To gain more information on them, take a look at Scale Chords.
The table below presents the note interval qualities for all seventh chords from b flat minor scale. They are displayed in root position with their root note at the top. Each note interval quality has its own short name, along with its scale degree on the left. Furthermore, all inversions of these chords are presented below each note name, making it easy to observe their formation from their root notes.
Fingerings
B flat minor 7 is a four-note chord comprised of Bb, Db, F and Ab with a minor third interval structure and is often abbreviated as Bbm7. There are various chords that can be built from its notes – we will explore some examples here using piano keyboard notation that highlights each note of its scale in different colors to make fingering these chords easy! To build these chords we will utilize this piano keyboard display; to help identify and finger these voicings of this chord this way we will highlight every note of its scale as we go along!
Starting with each chord, we will first identify its root/starting note and build it from there. To do this, we will take note of its first scale note before consulting our interval table to identify potential notes that could make up this chord – for instance if this scale note is A flat then our next chord choice would be an A minor chord.
Once we’ve completed that step, we will repeat it with each of the other scale notes and build 7th chords with them to gain a thorough understanding of how they’re built as well as creating our own variations of them.
Once we have created some basic chords, we will continue our exploration by learning about some of the more prevalent minor seventh chords found on a piano. To do this, we will focus on some of the most commonly found minor seventh chords before moving on.
As our starting point, we will construct an A minor triad. This chord can often serve as the bass note in songs, and can be played on the lower C row. To play it we will use pinky to play B, ring finger for D and middle finger for G; making this chord much more prevalent than G or F minor variants and suitable for various situations.
Variations
There are various ways of creating 7th chords, each one producing its own distinct sound. Some have odd names like nines, elevens, or thirteens; but most of these chords are much simpler than they appear – for instance the diminished 7th is simply a minor 7th with one half-step flattened off on its fifth.
Are You Struggling with Non-Standard Chords? Even if not, non-standard chords can add variety and depth to your music. For example, instead of going for an A7 when called upon in a composition, try an A7b9. This gives your piece a slightly darker sound which often works better with certain genres of music.
Change their position on the piano keyboard by inverting their chords, also known as inversion. To do this, begin by looking at the keyboard diagram below and identifying each scale note with its letter name; then referring to the table for information regarding interval quality associated with these scale notes; this knowledge can then be used in the next lesson step to construct 7th chords that harmonize with them.
Assuming the first scale note on the piano keyboard is Bb, in this step you will learn to form a Bbm7 chord using this note as its root note and how to invert this chord, by moving its root note up an octave (12 notes), until it becomes the highest note in it.
Repeat this process for each of the remaining scale notes on the piano keyboard, until you have built an entire minor 7th chord progression that can be played from any of its positions on the piano keyboard.
Another popular variation of chord composition is to lower the seventh note by one half-step; this variation is known as a Neapolitan chord and has its formula identical to a major 7th; however, its second scale degree has been changed from Eb to Bb; making it into a minor 7th chord instead of major 7. You’ll often encounter this chord when playing blues music or other popular forms.