How to Play the B Flat Chord on Guitar

The Bb (B flat) chord is not usually one of the first guitar chords that beginners learn. But it crops up regularly alongside the F chord. So it’s a good one to have in the toolbox.

In this article, we explore:

• How to play three common Bb chord shapes
• How to play a barre chord – and why it can be challenging
• How to make the Bb chord easier to play and sound cleaner

Table of Contents

• What is a Bb Guitar Chord?
• How to Play the Bb Chord on Guitar
• How to Understand Chord Diagrams
• Steps to Play the Bb Chord
• Is There An Easy Way to Play the B Flat Major Chord?
• Steps to Play the Bb Major Chord (Easier Version)
• Bb Minor Chord
• Steps to Play a Bb Minor Chord
• Barre Chords
• Steps to Play the Full Bb Barre Chord
• Is Bb the Hardest Guitar Chord?
• Ways to Make the Bb Chord Easier to Play
• Music Theory: What is a Chord?
• Chords that Sound Good with the Bb Chord
• Chord Progressions
• Popular Pieces with the Bb Chord

What is a Bb Guitar Chord?

The Bb chord on the guitar consists of three notes: Bb, D and F. These are the first, third and fifth notes in the scale of Bb.

Sometimes these notes will occur more than once on different strings. But together, they form the Bb major guitar chord, commonly known as “Bb”.

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How to Play the Bb Chord on Guitar

The image to the left is a B flat major chord. The image to the right is a B flat minor chord.

If we listen to the two chords one at a time, we’ll hear the difference.  It’s only one note, but it gives each chord a distinct “quality”.

Major chords can be said to sound “happy” and minor chords are sometimes described as “sad”.

To learn how to play these chords, we can use a chord diagram.

How to Understand Chord Diagrams

A chord diagram is a useful tool for learning chords. It tells us which strings to play, and which fingers to use.

The Left-Hand Fingers

We number the left-hand fingers 1 to 4.

1 is the index or pointer finger.  And 4 is the little finger.

 

Bb Chord Diagram

Let’s take a look at a common Bb chord shape.

Steps to Play the Bb Chord

• Step 1: Place Finger 1 on the 1st fret of the fifth string (a string)
• Step 2: Place Finger 2 on the 3rd fret of the fourth string (d string)
• Step 3: Place Finger 3 on the 3rd fret of the third string (g string)
• Step 4: Place Finger 4 on the 3rd fret of the second string (b string)
• The 1st and 6th strings are not played
• We can place the right-hand thumb on the 5th string and strum toward the floor. But we need to stop before we reach the first string.

The best way to play this chord shape might be to finger-pick it. That way it is easier to avoid playing the high E string.

But we might not want to do that. Finger-picking might not suit the song we are playing. So is there another way of playing Bb that might be easier?

Is There an Easy Way to Play the B Flat Major Chord?

Here is a simplified version of the Bb chord that we can strum from the fourth string. It includes the high E string.

Steps to Play the Bb Major Chord (Easier Version)

• Step 1: Finger 1 on the 1st fret of the first string (e string)
• Step 2: Finger 2 on the 3rd fret of the fourth string (d string)
• Step 3: Finger 3 on the 3rd fret of the third string (g string)
• Step 4: Finger 4 on the 3rd fret of the second string (b string)
• The 5th and the 6th strings are not played
• We can place the right-hand thumb on the 4th string and strum

Bb Minor Chord

Let’s look at the diagram for the Bb minor chord.

Steps to Play a Bbm Chord

• Step 1: Finger 1 on the 1st fret of the first string (e string)
• Step 2: Finger 2 on the 2nd fret of the second string (b string)
• Step 3: Finger 3 on the 3rd fret of the fourth string (d string)
• Step 4: Finger 4 on the 3rd fret of the third string (g string)
• The 5th and 6th strings are not played
• With our right hand, we can place our thumb on the 4th string, and strum

Both the Bb major and Bb minor chords can also be played with a barre chord shape.

So what is a Barre Chord?

Barre Chords

Note for beginners: Feel free to skip this section. You can return to it later if you choose.

A bar (barre) chord substitutes the first finger for the nut (fret zero) of the guitar.  The first finger lays across two or more strings, while the other fingers fret other notes.  By eliminating open strings, we can play chords all over the guitar neck.

Playing barre chords can be difficult. Our fretting hand can get tired quickly.  And we can mute strings by mistake or get unwanted buzzing sounds.

One of the most common issues with bar chords is excess tension.  We tend to press too hard. Over time this may lead to injury.

Selective pressure will help with any bar chord. This means paying close attention to which strings we press for a given chord. Then we can press with more appropriate pressure where we need it, and avoid pressing too hard where we don’t.

With the right technique, we can play bar chords more easily.

The Bb Major Full Barre Chord Diagram

We can use a full bar to play a Bb chord.

This is harder than the chord shapes above. But we can use this version to enrich the chord with added bass notes.

Steps to Play the Full Bb Barre Chord

• Step 1: Finger 1 on the 6th fret, all strings
• Step 2: Finger 3 on the 8th fret of the fifth string (a string)
• Step 3: Finger 4 on the 8th fret of the fourth string (d string)
• Step 4: Finger 2 on the 7th fret of the third string (g string)

We can place the right-hand thumb on the sixth string and strum.

Is Bb the Hardest Guitar Chord?

Even when we use chord shapes that don’t involve a barre, the Bb chord is often considered a tricky chord to master. This is because some of us find the stretch between our first and second fingers difficult. We also need to fit three fingers onto one fret.

Here are some tips to make it easier.

Ways to Make the Bb Chord Easier to Play

Here are three common problems – and some tips to make the Bb chord easier.

Muted or Buzzing Strings

A good hand position on the guitar fretboard is the key here.

It’s good practice to keep our thumb centered behind the second fret. And if we’re using the barre chord shape on the 6th fret, it helps to think of the bar as levered, rather than squeezed.

We might need to adjust the position of our index finger. We don’t want the strings to nestle into the inside creases of our knuckles.

We’ll also get a better sound if we roll our barring finger slightly to the side. We use the bony part, rather than the softer part of the finger.

It helps to keep all the other fingers up on their tips. This ensures we don’t accidentally touch adjacent strings.

Hand and Finger Fatigue

It’s a good idea to take regular breaks during our practice sessions.

Hand and finger stretching exercises help warm up tendons, ligaments, and muscles.

We can also practice touching the strings lightly without actually exerting any pressure.  This saves energy.

Clumsy Chord Changes

It sounds counter-intuitive, but practicing changing chords slowly, speeds us up.

We’re more likely to be accurate.  And this consistency will gradually build up strength, dexterity, and speed.

We can also try to position our fingers in the chord shape above the fret before we press down on the strings. (Proprioception.)[tk]

Music Theory: What is a Chord?

Music theory is a tool that can help us better understand music. Theory explains how notes and chords work together to create the music we know and love.

Do we need to learn music theory?  No.  At least not as beginners. Practicing chords and learning to use our hands on the guitar is more important.  All the abstract background knowledge can come later if desired.

But if you are interested, in this section we’ll discuss the musical alphabet.

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The musical alphabet uses only the notes named A, B, C, D, E, F, and G.

These notes can be altered by raising or lowering the pitch. In music, we call this making a note sharp (raising) or flat (lowering).

• On the guitar, we sharpen a note by moving one fret higher
• To flatten a note, we move one fret lower

In all, this gives us 12 notes.  These same 12 notes repeat going higher and/or lower.  Think of the same pattern of black notes (groups of two and three) repeating up the length of a piano.

A piece of music rarely uses all 12 notes.  Instead, we limit the notes to a “key.”  A key in music is a unique collection of just seven notes.

The Key of Bb, for example, contains the notes:

Bb, C, D, Eb, F, G, A, and Bb.

This is the Bb major scale.  To create the Bb chord, we take the 1st, 3rd, and 5th notes from this group of notes.

So the notes in the Bb chord are Bb, D, and F.

We can play these notes in any combination all over the fretboard. As long as we play these notes together, we are playing a Bb Major chord (or just “Bb chord”).

There’s more to learn about the relationship between chords and scales.

Chords that Sound Good with the Bb Chord

Common chords played with the Bb chord are:

F Major Chord

Eb Major Chord

C Minor Chord

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Other chords that sound good with B Flat Major are:

G Minor Chord

D Minor Chord

We can find notes to all these chords within the Bb major scale. The chords can appear in any order and duration, depending on the piece or song.

One of the best skills we can learn as guitarists is how to practice chords. It’s helpful in pieces of music to switch quickly between chords.

Chord Progressions

A chord progression is one chord moving to another chord.  Most songs in Western music follow a chord progression.

Chord progressions can have as little as two chords or many different chords.

Here are two common chord progressions:

Popular Pieces With the Bb Chord

The Bb chord appears in hundreds of songs and pieces of music. From Albeniz to ABBA, the Bb chord is commonly used across time, culture, and genre.

Many popular songs use the Bb chord. From timeless classics to folk-pop hits, here are a few in Bb Major.

1. Francisco Tárrega – “Capricho Arabe”
2. Fernando Sor – “Etude, Op. 29 No. 22”
3. Joaquin Turina – “Fandanguillo”
4. “Don’t Know Why” by Norah Jones
5. “Charlie Brown” by Cold Play