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Bm Chord and B Major Chord Family

Bm Chord and B Major Chord Family is Part 8 in a 14 part series on Learn to Play Guitar Lessons. We will learn to play B Major and B minor in multiple places on the guitar. We will also learn all of the diatonic chords in the key of B Major.

NOTE: To review the major scale visit C Major Scale

B MAJOR CHORD AND FAMILY

B MAJOR CHORD

Again, a triad is a 3 note chord. You need a root, a 3rd and a 5th.

Below is a B major scale. The notes are B,C#,D#E,F#,G#,A#

Take the 1st note B, the 3rd note D# and the 5th note F#. This makes a B Maj chord. Often the 1st note (also called the root or the tonic) and/or the 5th note is doubled. The 3rd is rarely doubled.

In the B guitar chord below, the notes are as follows:

Top string - (not played)
5th string - B (root)
4th string - F# (5th)
3rd string - B (root doubled)
2nd string - D# (3rd)
1st string - F# (5th doubled)

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Bm Chord

A minor triad is still a 3 note chord. You need a root, a minor 3rd and a 5th. B minor is the relative minor (VI chord) in D Major.

Below is a B minor scale (also called natural minor). The notes are: B,C#,D,E,F#,G,A

Take the 1st note B, the 3rd note D# which is now down a half step (or semi-tone) to D and the 5th note F#. This makes an B minor chord.

In the Bm chord below the notes are as follows:

Here the 1st note (also called the root or the tonic) and the 5th note are doubled. The minor 3rd is only played once.

Top string - (not played)
5th string - B (root)
4th string - F# (5th)
3rd string - B (root doubled)
2nd string - D (minor 3rd)
1st string - F# (5th doubled)

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DIATONIC CHORDS IN B MAJOR

The reason the next key is B is that it is the 6th chord in the Circle of 5ths and has 5 sharps, F#, C#, G#, D# and A#.

To review music theory chords in a key visit C Major Chord and Chord Theory and return.

There are 7 chords in a key indicated by roman numerals. In B Major they are:

B Major is the I Major chord
C# minor is the II minor chord
D# minor is the III minor chord
E Major is the IV Major chord
F# Major is the V Major chord
G# minor is the VI minor chord
A# diminished is the VII diminished chord

B Major / I Major

C# minor / II minor

D# minor / III minor

E Major / IV Major

F# Major / V Major

G# minor / VI minor

A# diminished / VII diminished

Thanks for viewing B Major Chord and Family. Now let's move to a new chord family, F. It introduces our first flat, Bb.

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Continue to Part 9, F Guitar Chords

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