The b minor 7th chord is a commonly used bar chord among guitarists. It can be heard in many songs and provides an uptempo ring to your music.
This chord can be played in an open position or barred all along the fretboard. In this lesson, we’ll look at different ways you can play this jangly chord and provide examples of songs featuring it.
Root Note
A B minor 7th chord (Bm7) begins with B, the fifth note of the Natural B Minor scale. This root note is one octave higher than an E minor 7th chord’s root note.
The Bm7 chord is a staple of guitarists, appearing frequently in songs such as rock and pop music.
It’s an especially helpful chord for beginners, as it serves as a good starting point to learning how to finger bar chords on the guitar. Once you’ve mastered this one, playing more complex bar chords will come naturally to you with ease and confidence.
Finding the root note of a chord can be done several ways, but the simplest is to look at its very first note – known as the “root.” With your left hand, place your index, middle and ring fingers on the first three strings of your guitar to identify this root note.
Once you’ve identified the root note of a Bm7 chord, it’s time to learn how to play it on the guitar. To do this, take some basic chord exercises, practice different ways of playing them and explore chord progressions that include the b minor 7th chord.
A B minor 7th chord is constructed similarly to a Major triad, only it adds an additional note. You can play either the major 7th chord by ascending one whole step (2 frets) from its root note, or alternatively you may choose to decrease by half (1 fret).
Major and minor chords differ in style by adding a seventh note, yet they remain similar in construction. This is because they are composed from the root, minor third, perfect fifth and minor seventh notes of the same scale.
Major Third
The B minor 7th chord (also known as the Bm7 chord) is composed of notes B, D, F# and A. This enharmonically valid chord can be played in most guitar tunings. We’ve included an interactive piano chart to view which highlights the notes of this chord in red for your convenience.
Music theory dictates that all intervals in a major scale, beginning with the tonic, must either be major or perfect. Likewise, all intervals between this same tonic and mediant of a major triad must either be perfect or minor.
A minor third is one of the most consonant intervals in music, often considered to be second only to unison, octave, perfect fifth and perfect fourth.
The minor third is distinguished from the major second by having two large whole steps and one small whole step, as opposed to only two semitones in the major second. Not only that, but its harmonic quality also lends it an ideal choice for melodically structuring chords and scales.
The minor third is an essential interval to understand, as it’s used in many chords and scales. In fact, it’s the most frequently utilized interval when creating major and minor triads.
Bar chords often use this interval as it provides a powerful tool for creating various shapes and patterns. With this knowledge in hand, you can develop your own creative style on the musical journey!
It’s worth noting that the minor third is an important element of just intonation, as it’s one of only three 5:4 major thirds (the other two being B:D and C:E). In equal temperament, it corresponds to the 125th subharmonic.
Minor Fifth
The b minor 7th chord is a commonly played bar chord among guitarists. This chord contains the notes B, D, F# and A and can be played in various ways.
Although its name might suggest otherwise, minor chords are essential components for creating a full musical tone. Together with major chords, minor chords form part of an effective combination to achieve this complete sound.
This chord is often featured in guitar solos due to its ability to create an interesting texture on the fretboard. As such, it’s one of the most frequently taught and widely utilized chords.
This chord features the basic root, minor third and perfect fifth as well as a minor seventh. This makes it an ideal accompaniment for many songs.
If you’re struggling to play this chord on your guitar, try playing it in the second position (where the lowest-toned notes begin on the 2nd fret of five strings). However, this version can be tricky since you’ll be strumming down on the bottom five strings instead of letting the low E string ring out.
However, this is an excellent place to begin learning the fundamentals of this chord! Soon enough you’ll be able to hear its impact in your music.
Practice makes perfect, and soon enough you’ll be able to learn and play this chord easily. Before long, you’ll be able to craft your own versions of the chord and explore new techniques!
This chord can serve as a great starting point to learn how to utilize ‘flavors’ in compositions. These are chords formed when adding notes outside of traditional tones such as the ‘triad’ or ‘perfect’ chord. While they may seem complex at first glance, once you get the hang of them, their usefulness grows exponentially!
Minor Seventh
The B minor 7th chord, commonly written as Bmin7 or Bm7, is one of the most common chords used in piano and guitar music. It consists of notes B, D, F# and A. The interactive piano chart below displays this chord’s notes along with suggested fingerings on the keyboard.
The B minor seventh chord is composed of four notes from the major scale: root (first note), flattened 3rd (one fret lower), flattened 5th and 7th. This scale serves as the foundation of all music composition.
All scales and chords can be compared to the major scale, making it easy to see how a minor scale will naturally form a minor 7th chord.
To create the B minor 7th chord, you’ll need to understand how the minor triad is constructed. A minor triad consists of stacking a minor third (root to 3), major third (3 to 5) and minor third (5 to 7).
When learning to play the minor triad, it’s essential to note that only three fingers of your hands can play it. Furthermore, all notes of this chord can be stacked into a minor 7th chord if you possess good knowledge of the major scale.
As you progress in your musical journey, you’ll be able to create a variety of new sounds that will enable you to expand your sonic vocabulary and access new genres.
The minor triad can be built up into a variety of chords. Popular options include the minor triad with a minor 7th, minor triad with major 7th and minor triad with major 5th.
In this lesson, we’ll focus on two types of seventh chords: the minor triad with a major 3rd and the minor triad with a perfect 5th. You’ll notice they have many similarities in construction but also some key distinctions.