Arpeggio · B♭7♯5 · Guitar
The B♭7♯5 arpeggio is B♭ – D – F♯ – A♭ — chord tones 1 3 ♯5 ♭7. B♭7♯5 is a dominant that wants extra tension before resolving down a fifth; its sound is floating, whole-tone. Below, every B♭, D, F♯, A♭ on the fretboard is marked, with the root in gold. Press play to hear a one-octave arpeggio, or tap any note.
Visualizer
Guitar · standard tuning
Piano
Play loops the arpeggio up and down one octave (switch Loop off for a single pass) in the position starting at fret 6. Tap any marked note to hear it. “Show” switches or combines the fretboard and keyboard; “Sound” picks the instrument you hear. Audio is synthesized in the browser.
Reference
| Chord tone | Note | Interval from B♭ |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | B♭ | unison (0 semitones) |
| 3 | D | major 3rd (4 semitones) |
| ♯5 | F♯ | minor 6th (8 semitones) |
| ♭7 | A♭ | minor 7th (10 semitones) |
Goes with: B♭ Whole tone (B♭ C D E G♭ A♭). Voicings: B♭7♯5 voicings on guitar.
Common questions
B♭ – D – F♯ – A♭. As chord tones: 1 3 ♯5 ♭7. Played one after another instead of together, that is the arpeggio.
B♭7♯5 is a dominant that wants extra tension before resolving down a fifth. Its character is floating, whole-tone.
B♭ Whole tone (B♭ C D E G♭ A♭) — the arpeggio is the skeleton of that scale, so practise them together.
Start on the root B♭ on the low E string at fret 6 and play E-string fret 6, E-string fret 10, A-string fret 9, D-string fret 6, D-string fret 8. Then play it descending, then in eighth notes with a metronome, then over the a dominant that wants extra tension before resolving down a fifth.
Keep going
Same arpeggio on piano · Augmented 7th (7♯5) hub · chord-scale theory.
Other arpeggios from B♭