Arpeggio · B♭m9 · Guitar
The B♭m9 arpeggio is B♭ – D♭ – F – A♭ – C — chord tones 1 ♭3 5 ♭7 9. B♭m9 is a coloured ii chord or minor tonic; its sound is smooth, modern. Below, every B♭, D♭, F, A♭, C 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♭ | minor 3rd (3 semitones) |
| 5 | F | perfect 5th (7 semitones) |
| ♭7 | A♭ | minor 7th (10 semitones) |
| 9 | C | major 2nd + octave (14 semitones) |
Goes with: B♭ Dorian (B♭ C D♭ E♭ F G A♭). Voicings: see the four-note chord voicings in the chord library.
Common questions
B♭ – D♭ – F – A♭ – C. As chord tones: 1 ♭3 5 ♭7 9. Played one after another instead of together, that is the arpeggio.
B♭m9 is a coloured ii chord or minor tonic. Its character is smooth, modern.
B♭ Dorian (B♭ C D♭ E♭ F 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 8, E-string fret 9, A-string fret 8, D-string fret 6, D-string fret 8. Then play it descending, then in eighth notes with a metronome, then over the a coloured ii chord or minor tonic.
Keep going
Same arpeggio on piano · Minor 9th hub · chord-scale theory.
Other arpeggios from B♭