Guitar Chords - B Major Chord

How To Play The B Major Guitar Chord

B Major is a triad chord which is consists of three notes:

  • Root: B
  • Major 3rd: D#
  • Perfect 5th: F#

You can use different approaches to play this chord on the guitar in various positions, but I will show you a simple version of it in the first guitar position.

To hold the B Major guitar chord, open position, and do these steps:

  • Put your first finger on the second fret of the first string, which is F#
  • Put your second finger on the fourth string, fret number four, another F#.
  • Put your third finger on the third string, fret number four (B note)
  • Put your fourth finger on the second string, fret number four, D note.
B Major Chord - Iman Music Studio (2)

Also, you can simplify it by using just the first three strings. It’s also easier for beginners (easy B chord):

B Major Chord - Iman Music Studio

Be aware not to play the fifth and sixth strings. You can mute these strings by using your left-hand thumb.
To keep the strings mute, you need to practice it to find the best position for your thumb, because sometimes it’s frustrating, especially for beginners but don’t worry, you will learn it after a while.

Music Theory

Let’s check the music theory behind this chord. 

There four types of Triads:

  • Major
  • Minor
  • Augmented
  • Diminished

The notes that make the triad are intervals of first, third, and fifth, but each note’s interval quality changes the triad’s voicing. A major triad consists of a root, a major third above the root, and a perfect fifth above the root. But there are two ways to build major triads.

Counting Half-steps:

Count out the half steps between notes: Root + 3rd (four half steps above the root) + 5th (three half steps above the 3rd or seven half steps above the root). So, it would be like this: R + 4 + 3

First, Major Third, and Perfect Fifth Method:

The second way to build a major triad is to take the first, the major third, and the perfect fifth notes from a major scale. For instance, in the key of C:

C   D   E   F.  G   A   B   C

C is the first, E is the major third, and G is the perfect fifth.

Now we use this approach on the B Major scale to find the chord.

B Major Scale: 

B   C#   D#   E   F#   G#   A#   B

So the notes of the chord are: 

  • First: B
  • Major third: D#
  • Perfect fifth: F#

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