Chords in B♭ major

Find all seven triads and seventh chords in B♭ major, then hear how they work in a short progression.

Chords in B♭ Major

DegreeChordNotesQuality
IB♭B♭ · D · FMajor
iiCmC · E♭ · GMinor
iiiDmD · F · AMinor
IVE♭E♭ · G · B♭Major
VFF · A · CMajor
viGmG · B♭ · DMinor
vii°AdimA · C · E♭Diminished

Stack every other note of the scale. The pattern of thirds determines each chord quality.

I–IV–V–I progression

B♭E♭FB♭

Sevenths

DegreeChordNotes
Imaj7B♭maj7B♭ · D · F · A
ii7Cm7C · E♭ · G · B♭
iii7Dm7D · F · A · C
IVmaj7E♭maj7E♭ · G · B♭ · D
V7F7F · A · C · E♭
vi7Gm7G · B♭ · D · F
viiø7Am7♭5A · C · E♭ · G

Ready to play. Sound starts when you press Play.

Start with the scale

The B♭-major collection is B♭ · C · D · E♭ · F · G · A, with 2 flats in its signature. Build a chord on each scale note by taking every other note, wrapping around the scale as needed.

B-flat and E-flat are the only altered notes. A natural is the seventh degree, so A–B-flat is the final half step back to the tonic.

The seven diatonic triads

The sequence is B♭, Cm, Dm, E♭, F, Gm, Adim. Capital Roman numerals mark major triads; lowercase numerals mark minor triads, and the small circle marks the diminished triad.

DegreeChordNotes
IB♭B♭ · D · F
iiCmC · E♭ · G
iiiDmD · F · A
IVE♭E♭ · G · B♭
VFF · A · C
viGmG · B♭ · D
vii°AdimA · C · E♭

Add one more scale third

Continuing the same stacking process produces the seven chords below. The V7 chord is F7, containing F · A · C · E♭. Its seventh is taken from this scale, not added by assuming every seventh is major.

DegreeSeventh chordNotes
Imaj7B♭maj7B♭ · D · F · A
ii7Cm7C · E♭ · G · B♭
iii7Dm7D · F · A · C
IVmaj7E♭maj7E♭ · G · B♭ · D
V7F7F · A · C · E♭
vi7Gm7G · B♭ · D · F
viiø7Am7♭5A · C · E♭ · G

Hear an original I–IV–V–I example

Arrange B♭ → E♭ → F → B♭. Play each chord for the same number of beats. The return to B♭ gives you a simple way to compare the other chords against the tonic. This is a short constructed exercise, not a transcription of a song.

Then replace the V triad with F7. Listen separately to A, the leading tone of the key, moving to B♭, and E♭ moving down to D. These small motions are useful comparisons, not a rule that every voicing must use exactly this spacing.

A key is larger than this list

G natural minor shares the signature but has a different tonic. Music in B♭ major may also use chromatic or borrowed chords, so a chord outside the table does not automatically establish a new key. This page names the chords derived strictly from the displayed major scale.

Sources and methods