Chords in the Key of Bb Minor

What are the chords in Bb minor?

Take the Bb minor scale — Bb C Db Eb F Gb Ab — and build a chord on each note by stacking every other scale note on top of it. Those seven chords are the chords in the key:

• Bbm — i, minor, built on Bb
• Cdim — ii°, diminished, built on C
• Db — III, major, built on Db
• Ebm — iv, minor, built on Eb
• Fm — v, minor, built on F
• Gb — VI, major, built on Gb
• Ab — VII, major, built on Ab

The pattern of qualities is the same in every minor key — only the letters change. Learn the numerals and you can find the chords of any key in seconds.

Which chords to play first

Bbm, Ebm and Fm — the i, iv and v — carry most songs in Bb minor. Add Gb (the VI) and Ab (the VII) for the classic minor-key turnaround.

• Bittersweet Loop — 6m–4–1–5 — Bbm – Gb – Db – Ab. Heard in Zombie, Numb.
• Andalusian Cadence — 6m–5–4–3 — Bbm – Ab – Gb – F. Heard in Hit the Road Jack, Stray Cat Strut.
• Dorian Vamp — 6m–2 — Bbm – Eb. Heard in Oye Como Va, Evil Ways.

The same chords as 7ths

Stack one more third on each and you get the seventh chords of Bb minor: Bbm7, Cm7♭5, Dbmaj7, Ebm7, Fm7, Gbmaj7, Ab7. Same roots, same function, a jazz and soul colour. The v as a dominant seventh (Fm7) is the one that pulls hardest back to Bbm.

Bb minor and Db major share every chord

Db major uses the same seven notes as Bb minor, so it has the same seven chords — the relative major. What changes is which chord is home: Bbm in Bb minor, Db in Db major. A song can drift between the two without changing a single chord shape.

• The chords of Db major, with their own numerals
• The Bb minor scale on the neck

How to practice the chords of Bb minor

1. Play Bbm – Ebm – Fm – Bbm slowly, one strum per chord, until the changes are clean.
2. Open the chord builder in this key and turn on Smooth Voice Leading — it re-fingers each change so your hand barely moves.
3. Then play the scale over the chords. Every note of Bb minor fits every chord above, which is why the scale and the key are the same thing seen from two sides.