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B major chord

The three notes, the three ways to stack them and which fingers to use.

The short answer

The notes of the B major chord are B, D sharp and F sharp.

On the keys

Keyboard with B, D sharp and F sharp markedBD♯F♯

Yellow is the root, the note the chord is named after.

On the staff

Treble and bass staves showing the B major chord in root position: B, D sharp and F sharp

The B major chord in root position. The treble clef is the right hand; the bass clef is the same chord an octave lower for the left.

Inversions

An inversion keeps the same three notes and changes which one is lowest. The B major chord has a root position and two inversions, and all three still sound as B major.

  1. Root positionB D♯ F♯right hand 1 3 5, left hand 5 3 1
  2. First inversionD♯ F♯ Bright hand 1 2 5, left hand 5 3 1
  3. Second inversionF♯ B D♯right hand 1 3 5, left hand 5 2 1

Keep going

B major scale

The scale this chord is built on: B, C sharp, D sharp, E, F sharp, G sharp and A sharp.

G sharp minor chord

The relative minor shares the same key signature as B major.

B minor chord

Same root, one note different: the third moves a semitone down.

Questions

How do you build a B major chord?

Start on B, add the major third (four semitones) above it, which is D sharp, then the perfect fifth above the root (seven semitones), which is F sharp.

How many inversions does a B major chord have?

Two: first inversion puts D sharp at the bottom and second inversion puts F sharp at the bottom. With root position that makes three ways to play the same chord.

Practise B major and the chords around it in PlayPiano, a piano practice app for iPhone and iPad.

Play it in the app