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B minor chord

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

The short answer

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

On the keys

Keyboard with B, D and F sharp markedBDF♯

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

On the staff

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

The B minor 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 minor chord has a root position and two inversions, and all three still sound as B minor.

  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 Dright hand 1 3 5, left hand 5 2 1

Keep going

B minor scale

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

D major chord

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

B major chord

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

Questions

How do you build a B minor chord?

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

How many inversions does a B minor chord have?

Two: first inversion puts D 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 minor and the chords around it in PlayPiano, a piano practice app for iPhone and iPad.

Play it in the app