Bbm7 piano chord, Bb minor 7th notes and fingering.

The Bbm7 piano chord is Bb minor 7th: Bb, Db, F and Ab. It is the Bb minor triad (Bb, Db, F) with a minor seventh (Ab) added on top, ten semitones above the root. Chord charts write it as Bbm7 or Bbmin7.

How to play Bbm7 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 Db, finger 3 on F and finger 5 on Ab. Finger 1 is the thumb.
3. Press all four keys together. In root position they run from Bb3 to Ab4, a reach of 10 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 Ab3, one octave lower: Bb with finger 5, Db with finger 3, F with finger 2, Ab with finger 1.
5. The cards under the keyboard hold the four positions, with Bb, Db, F and Ab at the bottom in turn. Play and Arpeggio on a card play that position.
6. Open Note names. As written the keys read Bb, Db, F and Ab. Sharps shows A#, C#, F and G#, and Flats shows Bb, Db, F and Ab. This chord is written with flats, so As written and Flats match.

How Bbm7 is built

Counted from the root, the formula is 0, 3, 7, 10. Stacked on each other the gaps are 3 + 4 + 3: a minor third, a major third and another minor third. Leave out the root and the top three notes, Db, F and Ab, make a major triad: Db major. That is why Bbm7 and Dbmaj7 look so alike on the keyboard.

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. Db4 is 8 semitones below A4, so 440 × 2^(-8/12) gives about 277.18 Hz.

Bbm7 and A#m7 are the same chord on the keyboard: the same four keys sound for both. Written as A#m7 it reads A#, C#, E# and G#. The key of Bb minor has 5 flats and the key of A# minor has 7 sharps.

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. Three of the four notes are black keys (Bb, Db and Ab) and one is a white key (F). 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. Your little finger plays Ab, a black key with G and A beside it. The little finger is short, so let the hand lean a little toward its edge and aim for the middle of the key. Finger 2 presses Db, a black key between C and D. The middle fingers are the longest, so they reach black keys most easily.

Bbm7 inversions and fingering

Bbm7 has four positions. In root position Bb is at the bottom. In the first inversion, Db is at the bottom and the chord is written Bbm7/Db. In the second inversion, F is at the bottom and the chord is written Bbm7/F. In the third inversion, Ab is at the bottom and the chord is written Bbm7/Ab. The tightest reach, 8 semitones from the lowest key to the highest, is the second inversion. The widest, at 10, is the root position.

The keys that hold Bbm7

Bbm7 fits six 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 Ab major, with 4 flats, where it is chord ii7.

Progressions that use Bbm7, with the chord numbers and the chords in that key:

• Ab major: ii7-V7-Imaj7, which is Bbm7, Eb7, Abmaj7, the ii-V-I, the standard jazz resolution.
• F minor: i7-iv7-v7-i7, which is Fm7, Bbm7, Cm7, Fm7, the minor-key cadence.
• Db major: Imaj7-V7-vi7-IVmaj7, which is Dbmaj7, Ab7, Bbm7, Gbmaj7, the four-chord loop heard in a great deal of pop.

Here is a worked example in Ab major. The chord before Bbm7 in the first progression above is Abmaj7 (Ab, C, Eb and G). From Abmaj7 in root position, the closest way to reach Bbm7 is its root position (Bb, Db, F and Ab, lowest note first): no note stays in place, and the notes move 6 semitones in total, counting each note against the note in the same place from the bottom.

The same four keys can be named a second way. Bbm7 holds the same notes as Db6 (Db, F, Ab and Bb). The name you read depends on which note is lowest: with Bb at the bottom it is Bbm7, with Db at the bottom it is Db6.

What Bbm7 sounds like

Minor 7th chords are mellow. The added seventh softens the plain minor triad, so the chord feels smoother and less heavy. You hear them in jazz, soul, R and B and pop, and as the ii chord of a ii-V-I.

Bbm7 is the ii7 chord in Ab major, the iv7 chord in F minor and the vi7 chord in Db major.

A common mistake with Bbm7

A common mistake is pressing D instead of Db, one semitone higher than the third of Bbm7. That gives Bb7 (Bb, D, F and Ab), a dominant 7th. If the chord sounds brighter and more tense than you expected, the third is the note to check.

Chords to learn next

Chords close to Bbm7: Bb minor (the same chord without the seventh; shares Bb, Db and F); Bb7 (a major third instead; shares Bb, F and Ab); Dbmaj7 (shares three notes with it); Db major (the major triad on top of it; shares Db, F and Ab).

Once Bbm7 feels easy, play it and then Eb7 to hear a ii-V move. 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.