Bbmaj7 piano chord, Bb major 7th notes and fingering.

The Bbmaj7 piano chord is Bb major 7th: Bb, D, F and A. It is the Bb major triad with the major seventh (A) added on top, eleven semitones above the root and a single semitone below the next Bb. Chord charts write it as Bbmaj7, BbMaj7 or BbM7.

How to play Bbmaj7 on piano

1. Find Bb on the keyboard. Bb is the third black key of the group of three, just before B. It is the same key as A#.
2. With your right hand, put finger 1 on Bb, finger 2 on D, finger 3 on F and finger 5 on A. Finger 1 is the thumb.
3. Press all four keys together. In root position they run from Bb3 to A4, a reach of 11 semitones. Play chord sounds them together and Arpeggio sounds them one by one, from the bottom up.
4. Click Left hand to see the left hand. It plays Bb2 to A3, one octave lower: Bb with finger 5, D with finger 3, F with finger 2, A with finger 1.
5. The cards under the keyboard hold the four positions, with Bb, D, F and A at the bottom in turn. Play and Arpeggio on a card play that position.
6. Open Note names. As written the keys read Bb, D, F and A. Sharps shows A#, D, F and A, and Flats shows Bb, D, F and A. This chord is written with flats, so As written and Flats match.

How Bbmaj7 is built

Counted from the root, the formula is 0, 4, 7, 11. Stacked on each other the gaps are 4 + 3 + 4: a major third, a minor third and another major third. The seventh (A) sits one semitone under the next Bb, so the top and the root rub together very gently. That small clash gives the chord its soft, spacious sound.

Worked example: the pitch of Bb3. On a piano tuned to A4 = 440 Hz, a note 11 semitones below A4 has the frequency 440 × 2^(-11/12), which is about 233.08 Hz. D4 is 7 semitones below A4, so 440 × 2^(-7/12) gives about 293.66 Hz.

Bbmaj7 and A#maj7 are the same chord on the keyboard: the same four keys sound for both. Written as A#maj7 it would need a double accidental (A#, C##, E# and G##), so Bb is the name that sheet music uses. The key of Bb major has 2 flats, while the key of A# major would need double accidentals.

What the keys look like under your hand

The white keys beside Bb are A on the left and B on the right, a semitone each way. One of the four notes is a black key (Bb) and three are white keys (D, F and A). Your thumb lands on Bb, a black key with A and B beside it. Keep the thumb relaxed and slightly curved, and let the wrist stay level instead of twisting to reach.

Bbmaj7 inversions and fingering

Bbmaj7 has four positions. In root position Bb is at the bottom. In the first inversion, D is at the bottom and the chord is written Bbmaj7/D. In the second inversion, F is at the bottom and the chord is written Bbmaj7/F. In the third inversion, A is at the bottom and the chord is written Bbmaj7/A. The tightest reach, 8 semitones from the lowest key to the highest, is the first inversion and third inversion. The widest, at 11, is the root position.

The keys that hold Bbmaj7

Bbmaj7 fits four of the major and natural minor keys that have a standard key signature, which means every note of it comes from that key's scale. The simplest is F major, with 1 flat, where it is chord IVmaj7.

Progressions that use Bbmaj7, with the chord numbers and the chords in that key:

• F major: Imaj7-IVmaj7-V7-Imaj7, which is Fmaj7, Bbmaj7, C7, Fmaj7, the three-chord cadence of folk, rock and blues.
• D minor: i7-VImaj7-IIImaj7-VII7, which is Dm7, Bbmaj7, Fmaj7, C7, a common minor-key loop.
• Bb major: Imaj7-V7-vi7-IVmaj7, which is Bbmaj7, F7, Gm7, Ebmaj7, the four-chord loop heard in a great deal of pop.

Here is a worked example in F major. The chord before Bbmaj7 in the first progression above is Fmaj7 (F, A, C and E). From Fmaj7 in root position, the closest way to reach Bbmaj7 is its second inversion (F, A, Bb and D, lowest note first): two notes stay where they are, and the others move 4 semitones in total, counting each note against the note in the same place from the bottom.

Look at the top three notes of Bbmaj7: D, F and A make a D minor chord (D, F and A). A major 7th is a minor triad with the root added underneath.

What Bbmaj7 sounds like

Major 7th chords sound soft, warm and a little dreamy. They are at home in jazz, soul, bossa nova, lo-fi and ballads, and they do not need to resolve the way a dominant 7th does, so they can sit at the end of a phrase.

Bbmaj7 is the IVmaj7 chord in F major, the VImaj7 chord in D minor and the Imaj7 chord in Bb major.

A common mistake with Bbmaj7

A common mistake is pressing Ab instead of A on top, one semitone lower than the seventh of Bbmaj7. That gives Bb7 (Bb, D, F and Ab), a dominant 7th with a tense sound. The top note of Bbmaj7 should be the one right below the next Bb.

Chords to learn next

Chords close to Bbmaj7: Bb major (the same chord without the seventh; shares Bb, D and F); Bb7 (a flat seventh instead; shares Bb, D and F); Gm7 (shares three notes with it); Bbm7 (a minor third instead; shares Bb and F).

Once Bbmaj7 feels easy, play it and then Bb7 to hear what the flat seventh does. For chords beyond these six types, and for guitar and ukulele shapes, use the chord finder. To play along with your computer keys, open the virtual piano. The piano chords page lists all 72 chords.