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Setup

Instrument

E A D G B E
Capo

Diagrams

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

Playback

Chords sound as

Accessibility

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Account & sync

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Capo

Where to capo for Bb major

Put the capo at fret 3 and play Bb major using G major shapes. That is the easiest of the eight positions ranked below, and it is what most players reach for. Against playing Bb major open, it drops the mean difficulty of the key's seven chords from 5.6 to 3.4 and gains 13 ringing open strings.

The short answer

You want Bb. Capo 3 and play in G.

19 open stringsdifficulty 3.4

All eight positions, ranked

Each row transposes Bb major 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
3G major193.4
1A major144.3
6E major104.4
5F major154.7
4Gb major35.6
NoneBb major65.6
7Eb major45.6
2Ab major26.2

What you are playing

The seven chords of Bb major are Bb, Cm, Dm, Eb, F, Gm, Adim — the ones the ranking above is scored against. Their diagrams are on the Bb major key page.

Capo for a nearby key

Open Bb major in the capo advisor →