Guitar · minor
Bm Chord on Guitar
B Minor is B, D, F# — the 1-b3-5 pattern of a minor chord. There are 3 ways to play it on guitar, ranked below from easiest to hardest.
Good news: Bm has an open shape on guitar, so you can play it without barring anything. Start there and work up the neck later.
The shape most players use — A Shape Barre (2nd fret)
Barre at fret 2 — harder to hold than an open shape, but movable: slide it and you have every other minor chord.
Easier ways to play it — 3 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.
Simplified (no barre) Way 1 of 3
Simplified (no barre)
Easiest here· beginner
Open shape — open strings ring right through it and there is nothing to barre. If you only learn one, learn this one.
A Shape Barre (2nd fret) Way 2 of 3
A Shape Barre (2nd fret)
intermediate· the standard shape
Barre at fret 2 — harder to hold than an open shape, but movable: slide it and you have every other minor chord.
E Shape Barre (7th fret) Way 3 of 3
E Shape Barre (7th fret)
intermediate
Barre at fret 7 — the same movable idea, further up the neck: brighter, more compact, and easier to reach if you are already playing up there.
What beginners get wrong
Moving in and out of it
Songs that turn on this chord
- Wish You Were HerePink Floydverse
- Hotel CaliforniaEaglesverse — opening
- What A Beautiful NameHillsong Worshipverse — the vi chord
- Hotel CaliforniaEaglesverse — opening chord
- Tennessee WhiskeyChris Stapletonverse — the ii chord
Bm 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 guitar.
Bm on Guitar — questions people ask
What is the easiest way to play Bm on guitar?
“Simplified (no barre)” — which we rate beginner — is the easiest Bm shape on guitar. 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 B Minor chord?
B Minor is B, D, F# — the 1-b3-5 interval pattern of a minor 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 Bm on guitar?
This page has 3 Bm voicings for guitar, ranked from easiest to hardest: Simplified (no barre), A Shape Barre (2nd fret), E Shape Barre (7th fret). They all sound like Bm; the differences are how hard they are to hold and how high they sit.
What can I play instead of Bm?
The nearest stand-ins on guitar that keep the same root are B5, Bsus4, Bsus2. 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 Bm on other instruments?
Yes. Bm is the same set of notes everywhere; only the fingering changes. This site has diagrams and audio for it on piano, ukulele, bass, mandolin, banjo.
Learn the theory behind Bm
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.
7 min read
Major and Minor Scales — Built from Intervals, Felt in Songs
The flat third is the whole difference between this chord and its major twin.
5 min read
Key Signatures: Read Any Key in Two Seconds
Which keys this chord belongs to, and how to read the sharps and flats.
6 min read