Chords in the Key of B Minor
Every diatonic triad and seventh chord in B minor, with the progressions built from them. Free. No sign-up.
Key facts
Diatonic triads
Seventh chords
Stack one more scale tone on each triad and you get the seventh chords — same key, more color.
Common progressions in B minor
i–VI–III–VII
Bm – G – D – A
The minor pop loop — same four chords as the major axis, started from the minor side.
i–iv–v
Bm – Em – F#m
The minor blues shape — all three chords stay minor in the natural scale.
i–VII–VI
Bm – A – G
The descending rock lament, one whole step at a time.
i–iv–VII–III
Bm – Em – A – D
A circle-of-fifths descent — each root falls a fifth to the next.
How the key of B minor works
B Minor carries two sharps (F# and C#). The scale runs B–C#–D–E–F#–G–A, and stacking every other note of that scale builds the seven chords above — every chord tone comes from those same seven notes.
D Major is the relative major: identical key signature, identical seven chords. Treat D — the III chord here — as home base and you are in D major without changing a note.
The parallel major, B Major, keeps the same root but raises the third, sixth, and seventh — its signature shifts to five sharps (F#, C#, G#, D# and A#). Moving a section from minor to parallel major is one of the oldest brightness tricks in songwriting.
Playing B minor on guitar
In B minor, D, Em, G and A are open chords you can play in first position. Bm and F#m need a barre shape or a capo. The diminished C#dim is usually played as a small three-string shape rather than a full chord.
You rarely need a capo here, but one moves the same progression onto different open shapes and a different voicing. The i–VI–III–VII progression (Bm – G – D – A) with a capo:
Capo 7 · play it as E minor
Em – C – G – D
4 of 4 shapes are open chords.
Capo 2 · play it as A minor
Am – F – C – G
3 of 4 shapes are open chords.
Capo 5 · play it as F# minor
F#m – D – A – E
3 of 4 shapes are open chords.
Where B minor sits on the neck
The root, B, is fret 7 on the low E string and fret 2 on the A string, the two places most minor barre shapes and scale positions in B minor are built from.
All six open strings are notes of B minor, so any of them can ring against a fretted line without clashing.
The open B (the root) string makes a drone you can let ring under riffs and melodies in this key.
One note separates B minor from each neighbour on the circle of fifths. Raise G to G# and you are in F# minor; lower C# to C and you are in E minor. Those are the two keys a song in B minor most often modulates to.
Songs in B minor
From the song library, these recordings sound in B minor:
- Hotel California, Eagles (capo 7)
Keep practicing
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