B flat minor: scale and chords

The B flat minor scale

B♭ C D♭ E♭ F G♭ A♭

Key signature of B flat minor: five flats, B♭ E♭ A♭ D♭ G♭ in that order, borrowed from its relative major D♭ major. C and F are the only white keys. Steps of the natural minor: W H W W H W W. Typed without the symbols: Bb minor, the chord Bbm.

B flat natural minor is the scale as written. B flat harmonic minor turns A♭ into A: B♭ C D♭ E♭ F G♭ A. That A natural is the leading note: it makes the fifth chord F major (F A C) instead of F minor, and F to B♭m sounds like coming home. B flat melodic minor raises G♭ and A♭ to G and A going up, B♭ C D♭ E♭ F G A, and lowers them again going down.

Play harmonic minor Play melodic minor

In Hz, from the keynote in octave 4: B♭4 466.2 · C5 523.3 · D♭5 554.4 · E♭5 622.3 · F5 698.5 · G♭5 740.0 · A♭5 830.6

On the piano, natural minor, one octave, the thumb on C and F: right hand 2 1 2 3 1 2 3 4, left hand going up 2 1 3 2 1 4 3 2. Down, the same fingers in reverse. The same fingers work for harmonic minor (A with RH 3, LH 3) and for melodic minor going up (G with RH 2, LH 4).

The B flat minor pentatonic: B♭ D♭ E♭ F A♭, four black keys and F. Add the blue note E (spelled F♭, the flat fifth) and it becomes the B♭ minor blues scale: B♭ D♭ E♭ E F A♭.

Play the scale

The B flat minor chord (B♭m) on guitar and piano

B♭ D♭ F

B♭m is B♭, D♭ and F: root, minor third, fifth. It's where a song in this key comes home, the i in the table below.

Guitar, barre: x 1 3 3 2 1 (low E to high E, x = not played). The index finger across the 1st fret from the A string, D and G at the 3rd fret, B at the 2nd: the open Am shape one fret up. Fuller: 6 8 8 6 6 6, the Em shape at the 6th fret.

Easier shape: x x x 3 2 1, the top three strings only: the same chord, thinner.

B♭m7 (B flat minor 7) adds A♭: B♭ D♭ F A♭. On guitar x 1 3 1 2 1 or 6 8 6 6 6 6; on piano B♭ D♭ F A♭, or D♭ F A♭ over a B♭ in the left hand.

Piano: B♭ (black), D♭ (black), F (white). Right hand 1 3 5, left hand 5 3 1. D♭ F B♭ and F B♭ D♭ are its inversions.

Play B♭m

The chords in B flat minor

Tap a chord to hear it.

With harmonic minor's A the v chord turns into F (F A C) or F7, on guitar 1 3 3 2 1 1, and the seventh degree into A° (A C E♭).

B flat minor chord progressions

• i–iv–V–i: B♭m E♭m F B♭m. The plain minor cadence.
• i–VI–III–VII: B♭m G♭ D♭ A♭. The loop above, the relative D♭ major's four chords from the minor side.
• i–VII–VI–V: B♭m A♭ G♭ F. The Andalusian cadence: three steps down, then the major F.
• ii–V–i: Cm7♭5 F7 B♭m7. Jazz's minor turnaround.

Keys that mix with B♭ minor

On the Camelot wheel B♭ minor is 3A (Open Key 8m). Tracks in these keys mix without a clash:

• 3B D♭ major relative major, the same seven notes
• 2A E♭ minor one step down
• 4A F minor one step up
• 5A C minor two steps up, the energy boost

Same keynote, the other mode: B♭ major (6B), three notes apart.

Where B♭ minor sits

Choir parts (soprano C4–G5, alto G3–D5, tenor C3–G4, bass F2–D4, where two part-writing guides agree): B♭3–B♭4 fits the alto part; B♭2–B♭3 fits the bass part; no whole B♭-to-B♭ octave fits the soprano or tenor parts. Find your own range.

As a sub or an 808, the keynote is B♭1 at 58.3 Hz, or B♭2 at 116.5 Hz an octave up. Tune an 808 to B♭.

What plays

Drums, an organ bass and a pluck, the Brumm app's own sounds, four bars at 123 BPM, one chord per bar. The arrows move bass and chords a semitone; the drums stay.

Relative minor of B flat major, relative major of B flat minor

The relative minor of B flat major is G minor, also two flats. B♭ minor is B♭ major's parallel minor, three notes lower: D♭, G♭ and A♭. The relative major of B flat minor is D♭ major, five flats: to find it, count three semitones up from B♭ (B, C, D♭).

What B flat minor is the same as

A♯ minor is the same key spelled with sharps, seven of them, so almost nobody writes it. D♭ major has the same seven notes (it's the relative major), and D♭ major is in turn the same keys as C♯ major: so C♯ major and B♭ minor share their notes but not their home note. The parallel major is B♭ major, two flats.

Quick answers

• Is B♭ the same as A♯? The same key on a piano, two names. In a B♭ minor scale it's always B♭, so each letter appears once.
• Is G♯ the same as B♭? No. They're two semitones apart; G♯ is the same key as A♭.
• Are minor and flat the same thing? No. A flat lowers one note a semitone; minor names a scale or chord with a minor third. B♭ minor has both: a flat keynote and a minor scale.
• What key has B♭ minor in it? B♭m is the i of B♭ minor, the vi of D♭ major, the ii of A♭ major, the iii of G♭ major, the iv of F minor and the v of E♭ minor.
• What does bb mean? Usually B♭ typed without the symbol. In notation, a double flat: Bbb is B𝄫, which sounds as A.

B flat minor on guitar

None of the guitar's six open strings is in B♭ minor, so every chord is fretted or barred. The usual way out: a capo on the 1st fret and A minor shapes. Am F C G then sound as B♭m G♭ D♭ A♭, the loop on this page, and the open A minor scale becomes B♭ minor.

The B flat minor pentatonic box sits at the 6th fret, two notes per string: low E 6 9 · A 6 8 · D 6 8 · G 6 8 · B 6 9 · high E 6 9. Roots at the 6th fret on both E strings and the 8th on the D string.

Pieces in B flat minor

• Chopin, Piano Sonata No. 2, Op. 35 (1839), with the Funeral March as its third movement.
• Chopin, Scherzo No. 2 in B♭ minor, Op. 31 (1837): it opens in B♭ minor and ends in D♭ major.
• Chopin, Nocturne Op. 9 No. 1.
• Tchaikovsky, Piano Concerto No. 1 (1875). Its famous opening is in D♭ major, the relative major.
• Samuel Barber, Adagio for Strings (1936).
• Rachmaninoff, Piano Sonata No. 2, Op. 36 (1913).

What emotion is B flat minor?

Christian Schubart's key characters (printed 1806) call it "a quaint creature, often dressed in the garment of night", "somewhat surly" (Rita Steblin's translation, 1983). That was written for tunings in which each key had its own shades. On a modern piano B♭ minor has the same intervals as any minor key; its weight is in the low keynote and the many black keys, and in the funeral march everybody has in their ears.

For a producer: the 808 on the keynote is B♭1 at 58.3 Hz, B♭0 at 29.1 Hz. On the Camelot wheel B♭ minor is 3A, a step from E♭ minor and F minor. Hum a line over the loop and the app turns it into an instrument; check the key of a melody with Major or minor.

Then hum over it

The hum button opens Brumm with a short line in the key over a beat. Hum yours and it becomes an instrument. No account, no upload.

Sources

Scales and chords: Open Music Theory, musictheory.net. Camelot, Open Key: Mixed In Key, Mixgraph. Open strings: Wikipedia. Choir parts: Open Music Theory, Geneseo. Guitar shapes: Wikipedia, Barre chord. Hz: A4 = 440 Hz, ISO 16.

Nothing leaves your phone but the sound files it fetches: no microphone here, and the page keeps nothing. How the site counts visits.