Sevenths
B♭ dominant 7th chord
Bluesy tension that pulls strongly toward the chord a 5th below.
B♭7 is the V7 chord in E♭ major. In minor keys: V7 in E♭ minor.
- Notes
- B♭DFA♭
- Formula
- 135♭7
- Built from
- root · major 3rd · perfect 5th · minor 7th
How to play B♭7
About the B♭ dominant 7th chord
B♭7 is the V7 of E♭ and the home chord of a blues in B♭ — one of the most common jam keys for horn players.
Playing it
On guitar, B♭7 is most often played as a barre chord across the 1st fret (x13131).
On piano, B♭7 has two black keys (B♭ and A♭) and two white keys.
On ukulele the usual B♭7 shape is 1211, using four fingers.
Related chords
Take away the root and the other three notes form Ddim (D F A♭) — so you can think of B♭7 as Ddim with B♭ added underneath.
Move a single note and B♭7 becomes a different chord: drop the A♭ for B♭, raise A♭ to A for B♭maj7, lower D to D♭ for B♭m7 and lower A♭ to G for B♭6.
Where you’ll hear it
You’ll find B♭7 in common progressions such as B♭7–E♭7–F7 (the 12-bar blues in B♭ major) and Fm7–B♭7–E♭maj7 (the jazz cadence in E♭ major).
