B♭7, the B♭ dominant 7 guitar chord

B♭7 is the same A7 grip as B7, one fret lower, right up against the nut. That is the stubbornest place on the neck to barre, because the strings give the least this close to the nut, so expect it to fight harder than B7 did. Five strings sound and the low E stays out of the strum. Coming from B♭, the ring finger narrows to the D string alone, the pinky takes the B string, and the G string falls back onto the barre. Blues in F is built on that sound. If the chord buzzes, roll the index a little onto its bony edge and pull back with the arm instead of squeezing with the thumb.

B♭7
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How to play it

  • Index finger flattened across the A string (5th), G string (3rd) and high E string (1st), 1st fret.
  • Ring finger on the D string (4th), 3rd fret.
  • Pinky on the B string (2nd), 3rd fret.
  • Don't strum the low E string (6th). It stays silent in this shape.

Changes to practice

Holding B♭7 still is the easy part. Songs need you to arrive at it in rhythm, so in Strumhold you practice B♭7 as changes, alongside the rest of the Barre 7ths set:

Same root, different color