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B flat major chord

The three notes, the three ways to stack them and which fingers to use.

The short answer

The notes of the B flat major chord are B flat, D and F.

On the keys

Keyboard with B flat, D and F markedDFB♭

Yellow is the root, the note the chord is named after.

On the staff

Treble and bass staves showing the B flat major chord in root position: B flat, D and F

The B flat major chord in root position. The treble clef is the right hand; the bass clef is the same chord an octave lower for the left.

Inversions

An inversion keeps the same three notes and changes which one is lowest. The B flat major chord has a root position and two inversions, and all three still sound as B flat major.

  1. Root positionB♭ D Fright hand 1 3 5, left hand 5 3 1
  2. First inversionD F B♭right hand 1 2 5, left hand 5 3 1
  3. Second inversionF B♭ Dright hand 1 3 5, left hand 5 2 1

Keep going

B flat major scale

The scale this chord is built on: B flat, C, D, E flat, F, G and A.

G minor chord

The relative minor shares the same key signature as B flat major.

B flat minor chord

Same root, one note different: the third moves a semitone down.

Questions

How do you build a B flat major chord?

Start on B flat, add the major third (four semitones) above it, which is D, then the perfect fifth above the root (seven semitones), which is F.

How many inversions does a B flat major chord have?

Two: first inversion puts D at the bottom and second inversion puts F at the bottom. With root position that makes three ways to play the same chord.

Practise B flat major and the chords around it in PlayPiano, a piano practice app for iPhone and iPad.

Play it in the app