Easy Beginner Guitar Chord – Learn How to Play Bm (B Minor)

Easy B Minor Guitar Chord Lesson -- Learn to Play Bm

Learn how to play the B Minor (also known as Bm) guitar chord with this free guitar lesson.  A beginner will usually cringe when they are faced with the thought of having to play B chords.  I have good news for you.  The versions of the Bm chord that you will learn today are pretty easy. No barre chords involved here.

There are of course other ways to play the B minor chord, but  this lesson will teach you the easiest way, so that you can start playing songs that require this chord.  The B Minor Chord  is found by locating the 1, b3 and 5 steps of the  B Major Scale: B, C#, D#, E, F#, G#, A#, or the notes B, D and F#.  The “b3″ symbol translates to “Flattened 3rd” , which means we simply lower the 3rd step of the B Major Scale (D#) a 1/2 step to a “D”.

So the notes of the B Minor Chord are: B D F#.

I will demonstrate how to finger this chord with the chart diagrams below.

Here is a key that will help you read the chart:

Everything on the above chart should be self explanatory, except for the last three in the third column. They may need a bit of explaining. The O, or open symbol, simply means that you do not press down on any notes on that string. The X means you do not strum that particular string. The Barre symbol means you need to barre that particular fret. When you barre a fret you are pressing down on multiple strings at the same time with one finger.

Technically speaking , the chord shapes above and below are chord inversions. This means that instead of the “B” note being the bass or lowest note of the chord, another note is.  In the shape above, the bass note is a “D” and in the chord shape below, the bass note is an F#.

B Minor Guitar Chord Video

The video below will further demonstrate how to play the B Minor Chord.  The teacher in the video below demonstrates a different way to play the chord by adding another f# to the chord. Both variations are acceptable.  One just has a fuller sound to it.

Chord Playing Tip: Be sure that you are pressing down on the string hard enough. You should play each string one at a time to make sure you have a nice clean sound. If any of the strings buzz or sound muted, then something is not right.