GuitarChords.net

B minor guitar chord

B minor is B, D, and F sharp. The first picture lays a finger across fret 2. Use the list under it for which strings.

x means muted. 0 means open.

B minor

Short code 224432, thickest string first.

Barre fret 2 with the index finger on the low E, A and high E strings.

  1. Low E string: fret 2, index finger, note F sharp, 5th.
  2. A string: fret 2, index finger, note B, 1st.
  3. D string: fret 4, ring finger, note F sharp, 5th.
  4. G string: fret 4, pinky finger, note B, 1st.
  5. B string: fret 3, middle finger, note D, 3rd.
  6. High E string: fret 2, index finger, note F sharp, 5th.

B minor uses the notes F sharp, B and D.

More B guitar chords.

Also B major, B dominant 7, B major 7, B minor 7, B suspended 2, B suspended 4, B power chord, B diminished, B augmented.

B minor, another shape

Short code 799777, thickest string first.

Barre fret 7 with the index finger on the low E, G, B and high E strings.

  1. Low E string: fret 7, index finger, note B, 1st.
  2. A string: fret 9, ring finger, note F sharp, 5th.
  3. D string: fret 9, pinky finger, note B, 1st.
  4. G string: fret 7, index finger, note D, 3rd.
  5. B string: fret 7, index finger, note F sharp, 5th.
  6. High E string: fret 7, index finger, note B, 1st.

B minor uses the notes B, F sharp and D.

Why do these two B minor shapes both use a barre?

Both pictures are B, D, and F sharp. That is B minor. The first picture bars fret 2 on all six strings. The second picture bars fret 7 on all six strings. Same three notes. The second shape is higher, so it often sounds brighter.

If the B minor in a song sounds higher than the first picture, try the second picture lower on this page. It is still B minor.

D is the note that makes this chord minor instead of major. On the first picture that D is on the B string, fret 3, middle finger. Play B major after this. On B major that note is D sharp. Listen for D turning into D sharp.

Progressions that start on B minor

Play each line in order.

B minor, E minor, F sharp major, B minor

B minor (Bm) and E minor (Em) stay in the sad room. Then F sharp major (F#) lights up and yanks you home so hard it can raise the hair on your arms. Sad folk, Spanish-flavored guitar, and a lot of film music from the 60s on use that bright last lean. It feels like crying with your back straight.

B minor, G major, D major, A major

Bm is the mood. G major (G), D major (D), and A major (A) refuse to let the song stop and cry in the corner. It feels like washing dishes after a hard day with a pop song on: not happy, not wrecked, still going. A lot of 2010s pop and alternative radio lives right here.

B minor, A major, G major, F sharp major

The chords walk down like stairs, then F# flips a light. Rock and dramatic pop — think late-70s through 80s radio — love that walk into a sudden bright chord. Held breath, then a yes. Skin can jump.

B minor, E minor, A major, B minor

Stays sad the whole way. A major is a window, not a rescue. Folk and rock ballads that do not want a happy ending. A porch at dusk, not a dance floor.

B minor, D major, A major, B minor

D major shows up brighter, like a cousin who still smiles. Then A major, then back into Bm. 1990s and 2000s pop that wants a little daylight inside a sad song. Not cheerful. Not hopeless.

Songs with B minor

Listen for this chord, then use the grip on this page.

Hotel California

B minor sits in this Eagles song. The recording is in B minor. It also uses F sharp major, A major, E major, G major, D major, and E minor. The verse is B minor, F sharp major, A major, E major, G major, D major, E minor, F sharp major.

B minor is the first chord of the verse and the chord the song keeps coming back to.

The Eagles put Hotel California out in 1976, as the title track of the album. B minor is the home chord. It is the chord the verse starts on.

Don Felder wrote the guitar part in a rented house on the beach in Malibu. He told Classic Rock he was on the couch on a July day, in shorts and flip-flops. His kids were in the sand. He played that chord loop over and over, then ran to a four-track tape machine in the back bedroom so he would not forget it.

He put it on a cassette with about sixteen other sketches and gave copies to the band. A few days later Don Henley called. He said he liked the one that sounded like Mexican reggae. Felder knew which one he meant. That sketch became this song.

B minor is the chord you sit on at the start of the verse. Then you play F sharp major.