The Bm Chord For Guitar: A Fun & Versatile Chord

The Bm chord for guitar is a good way for beginning guitarists to learn barre chords. This lesson will show you how to play it with a few moveable chord shapes, so you can play many other chords too, as well as various positions along the neck.

Let's dive into the lesson!

How To Play The Bm Guitar Chord

This is the first version of a Bm chord many of us learn. As you can see, we use the Am chord shape and barre one fret above it. This chord shape is very useful because you can use it to play any chord you want along the neck.

index finger (1) barred across the bottom 5 strings on the 2nd fret
middle finger (2) on the D note of the B string on the 3rd fret
ring finger (3) on the F# note of the D string on the 4th fret
pinky finger (4) on the B note of the G string on the 4th fret
mute the low E string

Variations Of The Chord

This version is almost identical to the Am shape above. The main difference is we drop the F# note on the 4th D string and allow the E note to ring instead. It is a subtle, yet distinct, difference.

index finger (1) barred across the bottom 5 strings on the 2nd fret
middle finger (2) on the D note of the B string on the 3rd fret
ring finger (3) on the B note of the G string on the 4th fret
mute the low E string

index finger (1) barred across the F# & B notes of the D & G strings on the 4th fret
index finger (2) on the D note of the A string on the 5th fret
pinky finger (4) on the root B note of the low E string on the 7th fret
mute the rest of the strings

This is a fairly simple Bm barre chord. Like the Am shape we learned earlier, this Em shape can be used for multiple chords along the fretboard.

index finger (1) barred across all 6 strings on the 7th fret
ring finger (3) on the F# note on the A string on the 9th fret
pinky finger (4) on the B note on the D string at the 9th fret

This is a slight variation of the chord shape above. This adds a high D note instead of a high B. This is for when you want to add a bit of flavor.

index finger (1) barred across all 6 strings on the 7th fret
middle finger (2) on the F# note on the A string on the 9th fret
ring finger (3) on the B note on the D string on the 9th fret
pinky finger (4) on the D note on the high e string on the 10th fret

index finger (1) on the B note of the D string on the 9th fret
middle finger (2) on the D note on the high e string on the 10th fret
ring finger (3) on the F# note on the G string on the 11th fret
pinky finger (4) on the B note of the B string on the 12th fret
mute the low E and A strings

index finger (1) on the B note on the G string on the 11th fret
middle finger (2) on the D note on the D string on the 12th fret
pinky finger (4) on the B note of the A string on the 14th fret
mute the rest of the strings

The Theory Behind It

You can memorize chord shapes all day, but you will take your musicianship to the next level once you learn how to build your own chords.

The basis of most chords is what is known as a major triad. A major triad consists of the I, III, and V, or 1st, 3rd, and 5th, notes of a key scale. For example, in the key of B, we need to map the notes of the B major scale and look for these notes:

The B major scale looks like this:

Using that formula, we can build a B major chord by using the notes:

B (I)
D# (III)
F# (V)

A minor chord uses a similar formula. The only difference is instead of a III you flatten it to a bIII. In the case of a Bm chord, you would use the notes:

B (I)
D (bIII)
F# (V)

Complementary Chords

Building a chord progression is not much different than building a chord. We will take the minor chord scale and search for chords we can use.

The B minor chord scale looks like this:

The chords available in a B minor chord scale are:

Bm (i)
C#dim (ii°)
D (III)
Em (iv)
F#m (v)
G (VI)
A (VII)

Note: when a scale degree is lower case (example "iii") that means it is a minor chord. When a note contains the degree symbol (°) that means it is a diminished chord.

Let's try out a I - III - IV - V progression. Since this is a minor scale we will use i - III - iv - v, or Bm - D - Em - F#m.

This is how you play that progression:

One More Bm Chord For The Road

An easy way to add a little more flavor to your chord progressions is to play variations of a chord. One of the most popular methods is by using 7th chords. Here's an example of a Bm7 chords (here's a whole Bm7 chord lesson of its own!)

index finger (1) barred across all 6 strings on the 2nd fret
middle finger (2) fretting the D note on the B string at the 3rd fret
ring finger (3) fretting the F# note on the D string at the 4th fret

Songs That Have The Bm Chord

Here are some popular songs across multiple genres that have an Bm chord in them:

The Power Of Love by Gabrielle Aplin
Wake Me Up by Avicii
Final Solution by Black Label Society
Lonesome Road Blues by Joe Bonamassa
Who Taught You How To Hate by Disturbed
Hotel California by The Eagles
Rivers In Your Mouth by Ben Howard
My Happy Ending by Avril Lavigne
Nobody Can Save Me by Linkin Park
Gorilla by Bruno Mars
One by Metallica
Apple Tree by Nina Nesbitt
Pressure by Paramore
Diamonds by Rihanna
Radioactive by Rita Ora
The Man by Ed Sheeran
Money On My Mind by Sam Smith
Style by Taylor Swift

Final Word

Now you have yet another great chord, with several variations and positions, to add to your arsenal. Trying creating your own chord progressions or full songs with a Bm guitar chord in them.

Happy practicing!

The Bm Chord For Guitar