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The Bb9 chord

Built from Bb - D - F - Ab - C, the Bb9 is a dominant ninth that sounds a dominant chord with a funky, bluesy shimmer. It lives at the centre of the twelve-bar blues and gospel turnarounds, and it shows up in more songs than you would expect. What follows below: the voicings worth memorising on guitar and piano, the theory in plain language, progressions in two or three different keys, and a short list of real records that lean on the chord.

Hear the Bb9 in the chord builder →

Voicings for Bb9

Common ways to grip the Bb9 on guitar and piano. Guitar diagrams read low E to high E left-to-right; an × means muted, an open circle above the nut means an open string. Filled dots are fretted notes.

Guitar , full chord shapes

CAGED-derived voicings for Bb9 across the neck. Pick the shape closest to where your hand already sits.

Guitar: E9 shape at fr.6

Notes: Bb - D - F - Ab - C (chord tones)

Guitar: 9th shape at fr.12

Notes: Bb - D - F - Ab - C (chord tones)

Guitar , triad shapes

Three-note triad shapes on each string set, shown moving up the neck. Light textures for arpeggios, pop layering and chord-melody work.

Triad: top strings (G-B-e) · fr.3

Notes: top-string triad, fr.3

Triad: top strings (G-B-e) · fr.7

Notes: top-string triad, fr.7

Triad: top strings (G-B-e) · fr.10

Notes: top-string triad, fr.10

Triad: middle strings (D-G-B) · open

Notes: middle-string triad, open

Triad: middle strings (D-G-B) · fr.3

Notes: middle-string triad, fr.3

Triad: middle strings (D-G-B) · fr.7

Notes: middle-string triad, fr.7

Triad: bass strings (A-D-G) · open

Notes: bass-side triad, open

Triad: bass strings (A-D-G) · fr.3

Notes: bass-side triad, fr.3

Triad: bass strings (A-D-G) · fr.5

Notes: bass-side triad, fr.5

Piano voicings

Root position and inversions. The bass note matters: each inversion changes how the chord sits under a melody.

Piano: root position

Notes: Bb - D - F - Ab - C. Root Bb at the bottom. The classic stacked-thirds spelling of a dominant ninth.

Piano: first inversion

Notes: D - F - Ab - C - Bb. D at the bottom. Common in chord-melody, walking bass lines and gentler voicings.

Piano: second inversion

Notes: F - Ab - C - Bb - D. F at the bottom. A floating, suspended feel often used in hymns and ballads.

Piano: third inversion

Notes: Ab - C - Bb - D - F. Ab at the bottom. The seventh in the bass , a smooth jazz favourite.

The theory behind Bb9

Spell out the Bb9 and you get Bb - D - F - Ab - C. The intervals from the root are root, major third, perfect fifth, minor seventh and major ninth, which is the recipe for a dominant ninth. In a closely related major key the chord plays the role of passing chord; in a closely related major key it shows up as passing chord. Its preferred next move is resolve down a fifth to the next chord, which is what makes it useful in funk, soul, blues and jazz.

Progressions that use Bb9

Short progressions that put the Bb9 to work. Each one is shown in a different key so you can pick the one that suits your singer.

I→IV→V key of C major

Bb9 (as passing colour)

This chord appears as a borrowed or passing chord in many major-key progressions.

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Songs that feature Bb9

Real records where this chord does structural work. No lyrics quoted, just the title and artist so you can pull up a copy and hear it in context.

Related chords

Chords a step away from the Bb9 in the songwriting circle, the natural neighbours when you want a substitution.

TriadBb DomBb7 Maj7Bbmaj7 m7Bbm7 NeighbourF NeighbourFm NeighbourF7 NeighbourEb

Keys where Bb9 lives

The keys where this chord turns up diatonically. Open any key page for the full set of progressions that lean on it.

C major A minor

Related references

Other ways to put the Bb9 to work across the reference library.

Arpeggiooutline it with arpeggios

More songwriting tools

Got the chord but still wrestling with the lyric? Find the right rhyme in RhymeForge, or break a writer's block with the unexpected word-pair generator in CollisionLab. Need to map a full progression? The chord builder on the home page is where the Bb9 fits into context. All free, no signup.

About the chord builder

The Undercover Zest chord progression builder is a free interactive tool that maps every diatonic and borrowed chord in every key. Click a Roman numeral to hear it, drag chords into a progression, then audition voicings, inversions and tensions until the song clicks.

This page is a static reference for the Bb9. For interactive playback, voice-leading hints and substitution suggestions, open the chord builder above.