Sevenths
B♭ major 7th chord
Lush and mellow — a signature sound of jazz, soul and bossa nova.
B♭maj7 is the Imaj7 chord in B♭ major and IVmaj7 in F major. In minor keys: IIImaj7 in G minor and VImaj7 in D minor.
- Notes
- B♭DFA
- Formula
- 1357
- Built from
- root · major 3rd · perfect 5th · major 7th
How to play B♭maj7
About the B♭ major 7th chord
B♭maj7 is the IVmaj7 of F and the Imaj7 of B♭ — a staple of jazz, soul and bossa nova.
Playing it
On guitar, B♭maj7 is most often played as a barre chord across the 1st fret (x13231).
On piano, B♭maj7 has one black key (B♭) and three white keys.
On ukulele the usual B♭maj7 shape is 3210, using three fingers.
Related chords
Take away the root and the other three notes form Dm (D F A) — so you can think of B♭maj7 as Dm with B♭ added underneath.
Move a single note and B♭maj7 becomes a different chord: drop the A for B♭, lower A to A♭ for B♭7, swap A for G for B♭6 and swap A for C for B♭add9.
Where you’ll hear it
You’ll find B♭maj7 in common progressions such as Cm7–F7–B♭maj7 (the jazz cadence in B♭ major).
