Bm — B minor chord
Root, minor third and perfect fifth. One semitone lower than the major third.
- 1 = B
- b3 = D
- 5 = F#
- Symbol
- Bm
- Root
- B
- Quality
- Minor
- Family
- triad
- Notes
- B D F#
- Degree formula
1 b3 5- Semitones from the root
0 3 7- Distinct pitch classes
- 3
- Interval structure
- Stacked from the root: 3 semitones, 4 semitones
- Notation
- Written with a lower-case m after the root, for example Cm.
- Key
- B · B major / G# minor key signature
Formula
The chord tones in order from the root, with the interval each one forms above it.
| Degree | Note | Semitones | Interval from the root |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | B | 0 | Perfect unison |
| b3 | D | 3 | Minor third |
| 5 | F# | 7 | Perfect fifth |
Inversions
An inversion is the same set of notes with a different one in the bass. The last column gives the distance of each note above the bass note, in semitones.
| Inversion | Bass note | Degree in the bass | Notes above the bass | Semitones above the bass |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| root position | B | 1 | B – D – F# | 0 3 7 |
| first inversion | D | b3 | D – F# – B | 0 4 9 |
| second inversion | F# | 5 | F# – B – D | 0 5 8 |
Playable voicings
These shapes were found by searching the fretboard of a standard-tuned guitar (E A D G B E) rather than copied from a chord book. The search allows every string to sound or to be muted, rejects any shape with a muted string between two sounding strings, rejects any shape whose fretted notes span more than four frets (a five-fret window), requires every chord tone to be present, and then sorts what remains with root-position shapes first and the most compact, lowest shapes next. The shapes shown are the first six of that ordering; other orderings are possible at the same frets.
| # | Shape (low string first) | Notes | Degrees | Bass | Span (frets) | Sounding strings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7-9-9-7-7-7 | B F# B D F# B | 1 5 1 b3 5 1 | B | 2 | 6 |
| 2 | 7-5-4-4-7-7 | B D F# B F# B | 1 b3 5 1 5 1 | B | 3 | 6 |
| 3 | 7-5-4-7-7-7 | B D F# D F# B | 1 b3 5 b3 5 1 | B | 3 | 6 |
| 4 | 7-9-9-7-7-10 | B F# B D F# D | 1 5 1 b3 5 b3 | B | 3 | 6 |
| 5 | 7-5-4-4-3-7 | B D F# B D B | 1 b3 5 1 b3 1 | B | 4 | 6 |
| 6 | 7-5-4-7-3-7 | B D F# D D B | 1 b3 5 b3 b3 1 | B | 4 | 6 |
Shape numbers run from the lowest string to the highest, so the left-hand number is the sixth string (low E) in standard tuning. Multiple shapes are listed because a chord can be voiced several ways, and because a lower position is not always the better sounding one.
Related chords and scales
- KeyEverything in B
- ScaleB natural minor
- ChordB
- ChordBm7
- ChordBm6
- ChordD
Related
- KeyKey of B
- ScaleB natural minor
- ChordB — Major
- ChordBm7 — Minor seventh
- ChordBm6 — Minor sixth
- ChordD — Major
- ChordBaug — Augmented
- ChordBdim — Diminished