Originally Posted by: Ben Lindholm[U]Ok, I think I see what you mean. If you have a bIII chord, you would want to know how to learn guitar and the name of the chord to have a (b) in it. These are separate things. The chord naming system is based on a standard major key with I, IIm, IIIm, IV, V, VIm, and VII diminished chord. If anything deviates from that, you name it bIII for example, if you want the root of that chord to be a half step beyond the standard IIIm chord in a standard major key chord progression.

This doesn't mean that our bIII chord needs to have a (b) in the name. It just means that it is flatted, compared to what's in a standard key. So if that standard chord is F#m, like in the key of D major, the bIII chord becomes F (major). It is flatted, but flatted from a sharp, making it natural. F#b if you will :), they cancel each other out.

You can have an Fb chord, or a Cb chord. For example, in the key of Db, the bVII chord is Cb, not B.


The bIII in D major doesn't stay an F, it flattens from F# to F.
The bVII doesn't stay a C, it flattens from C# to C.

This is correct, yes.

Cb, Bb, Db etc. are absolute, but bIII, bVII etc. depend on the key.[/U]