Bb7: guitar chord voicings, inversions, scales and arpeggios

Bb7 (Dominant 7) is an interactive GuitarArcanum page with chord formula, intervals, voicings, inversions, triads, pentatonic patterns, scales and arpeggios on the fretboard.

Chord formula

Interval formula: 1 3 5 b7. A major triad with a minor 7th. A tense chord that wants to resolve — the engine of tonal music and the backbone of the blues.

Chord tones

Between the major 3rd and the b7 sits a tritone — the source of the tension and the pull. That tritone is what makes it a dominant.

Sound character

Tense but energetic. In the blues it's self-sufficient; in tonal music it pulls to the tonic.

Harmonic function

A dominant (the V). It pulls up a fourth to the tonic. In the blues it sits on every degree.

Typical progressions

Cm7 – F7 – Bbmaj7
Bb7 – Eb7 – F7 (blues)
F7 → C

Guitar voicing advice

Root on the 6th and 5th strings, barre forms. The 3rd–b7 tritone is the core; the 5th can be dropped.

Fretboard voicings for Bb7

A few curated Bb7 shapes with fret numbers, intervals and root markers.

Bb7 — Drop 2, root on 6th string, frets 5–9

Bb7 — Drop 2, root on 5th string, frets 0–4

Bb7 — Drop 2, root on 4th string, frets 7–11

Compatible scales for Bb7

Open interactive scale pages that naturally pair with this chord.

Other chord qualities on the Bb root

Compare this chord with other qualities sharing the same root.