B major chord
Home in B major, and the V that pulls toward E.
- How it sounds
- Bright and settled. B to D♯ is four frets, and that gap gives it its warmth, while F♯ on top holds it steady. There’s no open grip. The lowest of its five grips is the A form, at the 2nd fret.
- Where it lives
- The I of B major, the IV of F♯ major and the V of E major. In B major it’s home; in E major it pulls the song back to E. In E harmonic minor it’s the V, and its third, D♯, is the raised seventh that leads back to E. Blues and rock in E, where it’s the turnaround chord, usually played as B7.
Voicings across the neck
B, D♯ and F♯ can be played in five places on the neck, each built from a different open chord shape. Neighbouring forms share a root, so each one hands over to the next, and together they run from the 2nd to the 14th fret before the cycle starts again. The E form at the 7th fret is the fullest barre, all six strings. The D form at the 9th uses only the top four, which keeps it small and bright and easy to hear over a band.
- High E string: F♯ at fret 2
- B string: D♯ at fret 4
- G string: B at fret 4
- D string: F♯ at fret 4
- A string: B at fret 2
- Low E string: not played
- High E string: B at fret 7
- B string: D♯ at fret 4
- G string: B at fret 4
- D string: F♯ at fret 4
- A string: D♯ at fret 6
- Low E string: B at fret 7
- High E string: B at fret 7
- B string: F♯ at fret 7
- G string: D♯ at fret 8
- D string: B at fret 9
- A string: F♯ at fret 9
- Low E string: B at fret 7
- High E string: D♯ at fret 11
- B string: B at fret 12
- G string: F♯ at fret 11
- D string: B at fret 9
- A string: not played
- Low E string: not played
- High E string: D♯ at fret 11
- B string: B at fret 12
- G string: F♯ at fret 11
- D string: D♯ at fret 13
- A string: B at fret 14
- Low E string: not played
Formula
| Intervals | Notes | Semitones |
|---|---|---|
| R · M3 · P5: what each interval does in a chord | B · D♯ · F♯ | 4 + 3 |
B major is a root, a major third and a perfect fifth: B, D♯ and F♯, taken from the B major scale by skipping every other note. Four then three is what makes a chord major. Turn the gaps round, three then four, and you get B minor: B, D, F♯.
In these keys and scales
B major turns up in twelve scales on the site, and the job it does depends on the scale. In B major it’s the I, home. In E major and E harmonic minor it’s the V, the chord that pulls back home. In G♯ minor it’s the III, the relative major inside the minor key, and as the VI of E♭ minor (written C♭ there) it’s a warm step away from home. The numeral beside each scale names the job, and the name opens that scale’s page.
| Family | Scales |
|---|---|
| Major | |
| Natural minor | |
| Harmonic minor | |
| Melodic minor | |
| Pentatonic |
Progressions
A lot of progressions in B major start on B, and nearly all of them come back to it. In I–IV–V the other two chords keep returning to it. In I–V–vi–IV it opens the loop, and E at the end leads back round to it. V–I turns it the other way: there B is the V, and it resolves to E.