What notes are in a B♭m7 chord?

B♭m7 contains four notes: B♭ (root), D♭ (minor third), F (perfect fifth), and A♭ (minor seventh).

What jazz standards use B♭m7?

Any tune in A♭ major or D♭ major: "Misty" (in A♭) cadences through B♭m7 at points, "Lush Life" (in D♭) uses B♭m7 as a primary iim7 chord, and many bossa-nova tunes modulate through B♭m7 in their bridges.

How do you play B♭m7 on guitar?

Most commonly a 1st-fret A-shape barre: index across strings 5-1 on fret 1, ring finger on the 3rd fret of the 4th string, middle finger on the 1st fret of the 3rd string, pinky on the 2nd fret of the 2nd string.

Is B♭m7 the same as A♯m7?

Enharmonically yes, but B♭m7 (five flats) is universal; A♯m7 (seven sharps with E♯) appears only in Bach's WTC and dense Romantic music.

Bb minor 7 chord — notes, intervals, and practice

B♭ minor 7 (B♭m7) — B♭, D♭, F, A♭ — is B♭ minor with a minor 7th on top. The chord is the iim7 of A♭ major (B♭m7 → E♭7 → A♭maj7) and a workhorse in flat-side jazz. Many vocal standards modulate through B♭m harmony; the chord is also fundamental to gospel and R&B writing.

Intervals

The Bb minor 7 chord stacks two thirds on the root. Each interval and its size in semitones:

Bb→Dbminor 3rd3 semitones
Db→Fmajor 3rd4 semitones
F→Abminor 3rd3 semitones

On the keyboard

Each note of the Bb minor 7 chord highlighted on a piano. Pitch class is what matters — any octave works.

On the guitar

One voicing of the Bb minor 7 chord on a six-string guitar fretboard.

1Bb
♭3Db
5F
♭7Ab

Common mistakes

B♭m7 has D♭ and A♭ as the two flats above the B♭ root, plus F natural as the fifth. The most common error is reading D♭ as D natural, which would produce B♭7 (a dominant chord). On guitar, B♭m7 is most often a 1st-fret A-shape barre.

In context

B♭m7 is the iim7 of A♭ major (B♭m7 → E♭7 → A♭maj7) and the vim7 of D♭ major. Coltrane's "Naima" passes through B♭m harmony; many ballads modulate to A♭ or D♭ specifically because B♭m7 is such a rich chord for cadences.

Drill it

The Bb minor 7 chord is one of 48 in the Chord Trainer. Open the full trainer to practice it alongside related chords with timing and best-time tracking.

Open the Chord Trainer →Or try today's Etudle puzzle

Frequently asked

What notes are in a B♭m7 chord?: B♭m7 contains four notes: B♭ (root), D♭ (minor third), F (perfect fifth), and A♭ (minor seventh).
What jazz standards use B♭m7?: Any tune in A♭ major or D♭ major: "Misty" (in A♭) cadences through B♭m7 at points, "Lush Life" (in D♭) uses B♭m7 as a primary iim7 chord, and many bossa-nova tunes modulate through B♭m7 in their bridges.
How do you play B♭m7 on guitar?: Most commonly a 1st-fret A-shape barre: index across strings 5-1 on fret 1, ring finger on the 3rd fret of the 4th string, middle finger on the 1st fret of the 3rd string, pinky on the 2nd fret of the 2nd string.
Is B♭m7 the same as A♯m7?: Enharmonically yes, but B♭m7 (five flats) is universal; A♯m7 (seven sharps with E♯) appears only in Bach's WTC and dense Romantic music.