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Instrument

E A D G B E
Capo

Diagrams

Chords shown as
Chord numbers
Shape difficulty
Fret numbers counted
Playing hand

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Chords sound as

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Capo

Where to capo for Bb Lydian

Put the capo at fret 5 and play Bb Lydian using F Lydian shapes. That is the easiest of the eight positions ranked below, and it is what most players reach for. Against playing Bb Lydian open, it drops the mean difficulty of the key's seven chords from 4.7 to 3.4 and gains 4 ringing open strings.

The short answer

You want Bb. Capo 5 and play in F.

19 open stringsdifficulty 3.4

All eight positions, ranked

Each row transposes Bb Lydian down by that many frets to find the shapes your hand would actually make, then scores the best voicing of all seven chords — fewer fingers, less stretch, closer to the nut, fewer muted strings. Lower is easier. Standard tuning (E2 A2 D3 G3 B3 E4).

CapoShapes you playOpen stringsDifficulty
5F Lydian193.4
3G Lydian193.9
1A Lydian104.4
NoneBb Lydian154.7
6E Lydian85.2
7Eb Lydian65.6
2Ab Lydian45.6
4Gb Lydian06.3

What you are playing

The seven chords of Bb Lydian are Bb, C, Dm, Edim, F, Gm, Am — the ones the ranking above is scored against. Their diagrams are on the Bb Lydian key page.

Capo for a nearby key

Open Bb Lydian in the capo advisor →