OpenGuitarChords
English

Guitar scale

Bb major scale (A# major)

The Bb major scale is the bright, resolved sound at the centre of Western music, and the reference every other scale is measured against. Best for melody, songwriting, everything else.

By Chiye · Updated · Counts from the 80 song sheets on openguitarchords.com

Root
Bb
Notes
BbCDEbFGA
Formula
W-W-H-W-W-W-H
Relative key
G natural minor
Learning path
Step 2 of 5
123456789101112131415EADGBeFGABbCDEbFGABbCDEbFGABbCDEbFGABbCDEbFGABbCDEbFGABbCDEbFGABbCDFGABbCDEbFG
All 15 frets, high e string on top. Orange marks a Bb root, the box is the one position to start with, and fret 0 is an open string.
Print or save the Bb major chart
Bb major scale chart: every note from fret 0 to 15 across all six strings, root notes marked in orange

940 × 230 px version of the chart above, sized for a phone screen or a printed handout. Tap the image to save it.

The Bb major scale is the seven notes Bb, C, D, Eb, F, G and A. Read as scale degrees from Bb, that is 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. Every note is a fixed distance from the one before it: W-W-H-W-W-W-H, where W is a whole step (2 frets) and H is a half step (1 fret). That pattern is the whole scale. Move it so the root lands on a different note and you are playing that key's major scale. The scale supplies the chords of its key: Bb (I), Cm (ii), Dm (iii), Eb (IV), F (V), Gm (vi), Adim (vii°). Its relative key is G natural minor, which uses exactly the same notes. What changes is the note that feels like home. On the guitar this is not one shape but overlapping positions: the lowest Bb sits at fret 1 on the A string. 2 of the 80 song sheets charted here are in Bb.

Start here: one Bb major position

Every note of the scale inside frets 1 to 5 sits in the box highlighted on the full neck above. The diagram below is that box on its own, numbered in the order to play it. Learn this one box first; the rest of the neck is the same shape repeated.

Play the box in this order

12345EADGBeFGABbCCDEbFGA1234567
Numbers 1 to 7 are the playing order, one note at a time. Letters are the other Bb major notes in this position; orange letters are roots.

Bb 1 → C 2 → D 3 → Eb 4 → F 5 → G 6 → A 7

Plays exactly the run numbered above, one note at a time.

Every Bb on the neck

low Efret 6
Afret 1
Dfret 8
Gfret 3
Bfret 11
high Efret 6

What notes are in the Bb major scale?

  1. Bb1Root
  2. W
  3. C2Major 2nd
  4. W
  5. D3Major 3rd
  6. H
  7. Eb4Perfect 4th
  8. W
  9. F5Perfect 5th
  10. W
  11. G6Major 6th
  12. W
  13. A7Major 7th
  14. H
  15. Bb1octave

W whole step (2 frets), H half step (1 fret). The same pattern from any other root gives that key's major scale.

Chords in the key of Bb major

Every chord below is built from the notes of this scale, so a song in Bb major uses almost nothing else. Together they account for 135 chord changes in the library, counted, not estimated.

I3 usesBbBb D Fii9 usesCmC Eb Giii16 usesDmD F AIV1 usesEbEb G BbV106 usesFF A Cviunused hereGmG Bb Dvii°unused hereAdim all rootsA C Eb

How to practise the Bb major scale

  1. Frets 1 to 5, slowly. The position above, up and back, naming every note out loud. Naming is what turns a shape into a scale.
  2. Then find the next Bb: low E string, fret 6. Build the same shape from there and play root to root at 60 BPM, one note per beat.
  3. Then stop counting. Pick a song in Bb from the list below and improvise on these notes for two minutes. That is what the scale is for.

Songs in Bb on this site

2 of the 80 song sheets charted here are in Bb. Play this scale over any of them and every note lands inside the key.

BbA Thousand YearsChristina PerriBbMe and Bobby McGeeJanis JoplinAllEvery song sheet
What the library actually plays in Bb majorCounted from the progressions written out in the song sheets charted here, not derived from theory. Only three-chord runs that stay inside the Bb major scale are shown.
Run #1
F → C → Gplayed 24 times
Run #2
F → C → Cplayed 10 times
Run #3
F → C → Dplayed 4 times

Bb major scale: common questions

What notes are in the Bb major scale?
The Bb major scale is Bb, C, D, Eb, F, G and A. Counting from the root Bb, the degrees are 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.
What is the formula for the Bb major scale?
The step pattern is W-W-H-W-W-W-H. Read left to right from Bb: whole step (2 frets), then whole step (2 frets), then half step (1 fret), then whole step (2 frets), then whole step (2 frets), then whole step (2 frets), then half step (1 fret). Apply the same pattern from any other note and you get that note's major scale.
What chords are in the key of Bb major?
The seven diatonic chords are Bb (I), Cm (ii), Dm (iii), Eb (IV), F (V), Gm (vi), Adim (vii°). Across the 80 song sheets on this site those chords appear 135 times in total.
Is the Bb major scale the same as G natural minor?
Yes. Bb major and G natural minor contain exactly the same notes: Bb, C, D, Eb, F, G and A. They are relative keys. Centre the melody on Bb and it sounds like Bb major; centre it on G and the same notes sound like G natural minor.
What is the easiest fingering for the Bb major scale?
The position above starts on the A string at fret 1 and stays inside frets 1 to 5: Bb at fret 1 on the A, then C at fret 3 on the A, then D at fret 5 on the A, then Eb at fret 1 on the D, then F at fret 3 on the D, then G at fret 5 on the D, then A at fret 2 on the G. Everything else on the neck is the same notes repeated in other positions.
How do I practise the Bb major scale?
Play the position in frets 1 to 5 up and back, naming every note out loud. When the shape is automatic, build the same shape from the next Bb up the neck, at fret 6 on the low E string, and only then add a metronome at 60 BPM.

More Bb scales

Bb natural minorBb major pentatonicBb minor pentatonicBb blues

This scale in other keys

C majorC# majorD majorEb majorE majorF majorF# majorG majorAll 60 scale charts
Previous keyA bluesNext keyBb natural minor