Ukulele · sixth
B♭6 Chord on Ukulele
Bb Major 6th is Bb, D, F, G — the 1-3-5-6 pattern of a sixth chord. There are 2 ways to play it on ukulele, ranked below from easiest to hardest.
Good news: Bb6 has an open shape on ukulele, so you can play it without barring anything. Start there and work up the neck later.
Start here — B6 Shape (movable) (1st fret)
Open shape — open strings ring right through it and there is nothing to barre. If you only learn one, learn this one.
Easier ways to play it — 2 shapes, easiest first
Same chord in all of them. What changes is how much your hand has to do and where on the neck it sits.
B6 Shape (movable) (1st fret) Way 1 of 2
B6 Shape (movable) (1st fret)
Easiest here· intermediate· the standard shape
Open shape — open strings ring right through it and there is nothing to barre. If you only learn one, learn this one.
G6 Shape (movable) (3rd fret) Way 2 of 2
G6 Shape (movable) (3rd fret)
intermediate
Barre at fret 3 — harder to hold than an open shape, but movable: slide it and you have every other sixth chord.
What beginners get wrong
Moving in and out of it
The shape above: B6 Shape (movable) (1st fret) — open position, so several strings ring unfretted.
Listening: each shape above has its own play button, and each one plays the notes that shape actually produces — not a generic triad.
Bb6 on other instruments
Same notes, different hands. Every link below is a real page with diagrams and audio.
Chords next door
Same root, different colour — and all of them playable on ukulele.
Bb6 on Ukulele — questions people ask
What is the easiest way to play Bb6 on ukulele?
“B6 Shape (movable) (1st fret)” — which we rate intermediate — is the easiest Bb6 shape on ukulele. Open shape — open strings ring right through it and there is nothing to barre. If you only learn one, learn this one.
What notes are in the Bb Major 6th chord?
Bb Major 6th is Bb, D, F, G — the 1-3-5-6 interval pattern of a sixth chord. Every voicing on this page uses those notes and nothing else; they just appear in a different order and octave.
How many ways can you play Bb6 on ukulele?
This page has 2 Bb6 voicings for ukulele, ranked from easiest to hardest: B6 Shape (movable) (1st fret), G6 Shape (movable) (3rd fret). They all sound like Bb6; the differences are how hard they are to hold and how high they sit.
What can I play instead of Bb6?
The nearest stand-ins on ukulele that keep the same root are Bbsus4, Bbsus2, Bb. They keep the root and the fifth and only change what sits in the middle, so most songs still work — but check the swap against the melody, because the note you removed may be the one the tune is singing.
Can I play Bb6 on other instruments?
Yes. Bb6 is the same set of notes everywhere; only the fingering changes. This site has diagrams and audio for it on guitar, piano, bass, mandolin, banjo.
Learn the theory behind Bb6
The shape gets your fingers there. These explain why it sounds the way it does.
Barre Chords — The Wall Every Guitarist Climbs
This one asks for a barre. The article is the fix for the buzzing and the aching hand.
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Functional Harmony: Three Roles, One Engine
What a seventh chord is for — tension, resolution, and the seat it takes in the key.
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The 12-Bar Blues — Three Chords, A Century of Hits
Seventh chords are the whole sound of the blues. Twelve bars is where to hear it.
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