When Am I Likely To See A B Minor Chord
You see B minor most frequently when you are playing chords in the key of D major. B minor is the chord built on the sixth scale degree and is commonly used in popular music. The chord progression I-V-vi-IV is one of the most commonly occurring chord progressions in popular music.
D major is a fairly ubiquitous key because it tends to be relatively easy for pianists and guitarists and is often easy to sing in as well. If you play enough pop songs youll play B minor more times than you can count.
Bm Chord Piano Root Position
Whenever you play a Bm chord on piano, and B is the lowest note, thats known as root position. It looks like this:
There are seven places on a standard piano where you can play a Bm chord in root position. If you have a piano close by, try playing each one.
Below youll see what all seven look like on sheet music. Click the play button if youd like to hear what they sound like too.
Play Popular Songs With The B Minor Chord
D major is the relative major of B minor. The two share the same key signature and this means there are two sharps F# & C#. The key of D major is overwhelmingly popular with beginners learning guitar chords, and many strumming or folk style guitar songs are written in the key of D major. Understanding that it is B minors relative major chord can help your understanding of the notes and chords.
Whether you understand the relative major or not, it doesnt matter for beginners looking to learn songs and chord progressions in B minor.
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B Harmonic Minor Scale
Lets now take a look at the B harmonic minor scale.
The harmonic minor scale raises the seventh note of the natural minor scale by a half-step, when ascending and descending the scale. For example, the notes of the B natural minor scale are B C D E F G A B. For the B harmonic minor scale, the notes are B C D E F G A# B. The seventh note of the scale has been changed from A to A#. Its now a half step higher.
The formula for forming a harmonic minor scale is W-H-W-W-H-W 1/2-H.
Harmonic Minor Scale Intervals:
B harmonic minor scale on piano.
Heres the B harmonic minor scale on the treble clef.
Heres the B harmonic minor scale on the bass clef.
When To Play Inversions Of The B Minor Chord
Simply put there are going to be many situations where as a pianist you might choose to play inversions instead of playing chords that are written in their root position.
A common reason to use an inverted chord instead of a root position chord is when youre playing in a position, in a position and in a key, and you are able to change quickly to the notes in a different chord without needing to move your entire hand. For instance, if youre changing from a B minor chord to a D major chord, we first think about if those two chords have any notes in B minor chord, or notes in common. How to play piano chords B minor and D major:
B minor: B D F#
D major: D F# A
In this case, since the two chords here share two different notes, you would try and maintain the finger positions in this version of the music, and then only move the note that isnt the same for the two chords, often by just moving your pinky or thumb by one or two keys. In this case, we just change our B note to an A note, and now were playing a D major chord in an inversion, but it allows us to only change one note instead of moving our entire hand up or down in either direction.
This can be something of a hack for piano beginners.
It is always easier to play a chord by moving one finger in songs, than a version that needs to move all three fingers, and if it still sounds just as good, then you might opt to play or compose a song in this way.
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What Are The Standard Piano Notes
Piano notes follow a pattern of black and white keys, with a group of two black keys close together followed by a group of three black keys close together. This pattern repeats across the keyboard, and we use it to identify the notes.
Each of the white keys is assigned a letter name from A to G, and each of the black keys is called a sharp or flat.
What Are Diminished Piano Chords
The diminished triad uses a minor third, and a lowered fifth, called a diminished fifth. A diminished fifth is three whole-steps, or six half-steps, above the root note. To find the notes of a diminished chord, count a step-and-a-half from the root to the third, and then a step-and-a-half from the third to the fifth.
Are diminished chords used in rock songs?
Diminished keyboard chords are less common than major and minor chords, but are still frequently used in rock and pop songs. They have a spooky, tense sound. The most common use of a diminished chord is to transition between two other, more stable-sounding chords. You can hear a diminished chord used in this way in the song God Only Knows by The Beach Boys.
Common diminished piano chords include:
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How To Build A B Harmonic Minor Scale
To build a B harmonic minor scale, we can start with a B natural minor scale, then raise the seventh note 1/2 step. So instead of A, well play A.
Here are the notes for a B harmonic minor scale:
B C D E F G A B
You may be wondering why wed call the A an A instead of a B. The reason is because the notes of a scale must progress in alphabetical order.
Bm Chord Piano Finger Position
Before continuing, we have to talk about fingering. You should always pay attention to fingerings when learning something new on the piano!
The nice thing is that the fingerings for minor chords are always the same. And even better, the fingering is the same as major chords! Even though the number of flats and sharps vary, the fingering remains the same.
Right hand fingering: 1 3 5Left hand fingering: 5 3 1
Dont forget that finger 1 is your thumb, finger 3 your middle finger, and finger 5 your pinky.
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River Flows In You Yiruma
Yiruma is a South Korean pianist who has been taking the world by storm with his song River Flows in You. This song uses many different chord inversions of the B minor 7 chord, or jazz chords on piano. It is best to take small breaks, rest between each hand as you learn, and approach this complex song with a beginners mind until youre able to capture the sound of the instrument and his performance in your playing.
What Are Augmented Piano Chords
Like diminished chords, augmented chords are most often used to transition between more stable sounds in rock and pop music. One example of this is the song Crying performed by Roy Orbison, where an augmented chord is used in the prechorus.
Common augmented piano chords include:
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B Melodic Minor Scale
Lets now take a look at the melodic minor scale. For this scale, you raise the sixth and seventh notes by a half step as you go up the scale and then return to the natural minor as you go down the scale. The notes of the B melodic minor scale ascending are: B C D E F G# A# B. The notes of the B melodic minor scale descending are: B C D E F G A B.
The formula for a melodic minor scale is W-H-W-W-W-W-H. The descending formula is the natural minor scale formula backwards.
Melodic B Minor Scale Intervals
B Minor Scale on Piano:
Heres the scale on the treble clef.
Heres the scale on the bass clef.
Remember that for the melodic minor scale, when descending, you play the natural minor scale.
How Do I Know Which Inversion To Use
If you are reading sheet music in standard notation, the specific inversion will be written out. If, however, you are reading a chord sheet or a lead sheet and the chord symbol is all you have to go with, there are several different things that can impact which inversion to use.
If you are attempting to learn a cover song note for note, then youll need to go with the inversion the original performance used. If instead you want to learn the song but arent worried about sticking to how it was played originally, then you have two things to consider: facility and tone color.
When considering facility, you only need to think about what inversion would be the easiest to play from your current position on the keyboard. For instance, if you are going from a D major chord in root position to a B minor chord you can accomplish this with very little movement. D major in root position is built D-F#-A and by changing A to a B you can switch from playing a D major chord to playing a Bm chord. .
This switch is particularly easy if you use the 1-2-4 hand shape for D major. You can then easily switch to B minor by using your pinky to play B while leaving finger 1 and 2 on the notes they are already on.
There are no hard and fast rules for which inversions are going to sound best for a given context. Just go with what sounds best to you and that will likely sound good to others as well.
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Common Piano Chords Chart
When it comes to playing the piano, pianists have thousands of chords to select from, with some chords being more popular than others. Check out some of the most common chords in the piano chord chart below, or keep reading to find out more about piano chords.
The most common piano chords include:
What Are Minor Chords
Minor chords consist of three notes and have a sad, dark sound. The lowest note of the minor chord is referred to as the root , the middle note is called the third, and the top note is called the fifth. Minor chords on the piano can function in many different ways, and lead to many different chords.
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B Minor Chord Piano Lesson
In this video you will see how to play the B Minor Chord on the piano.
he B minor chord is made up of two white notes and a black note: B, D, and F sharp .
The most common writing of the B minor chord in a chord chart is: Bmin. In a fake book, you may see it written as B-, b-, b, Bmin, bmin, Bmi, and bmi.
To play the B minor chord, locate the B, which is to the right of the three-black-note group. The D is the white note between the group-of-two black notes. The F# is the black note that is the lowest of the group-of-three black notes.
Because of the F#, the B minor chord can feel a little awkward to play on the piano if youre trying to keep your keys over the white notes. Move your hands closer to the fallboard so your fingers are hovering over and between the black keys.
With your right hand, put thumb on the B, and slide it in towards the fallboard so its next to the neighboring black note. Once you do that, it will be easier to place your middle finger on D and your pinky on F#.
With your left hand, place your pinky on the B, also sliding it in towards the fallboard so its next to the neighboring black note. Place your middle finger on D, making sure its also tucked in between the neighboring black notes. That will make it easier for your thumb to rest on the F sharp.
Chord Inversions Written In Sheet Music
Below you will find the sheet music representing the left and right hand for all three chord inversions of B minor. You will also find all of the chords represented in grid for, corresponding to each fingering.
These diagrams in sheet music contain each of the inversions: root position, first inversion and second inversion. Ensure that you get the fingering correct whether you are playing left or right hand. On the B minor chord for the left hand your fingers 5-3-1 should be used to play the notes, but on the right hand, fingers are in the order 1-3-5.
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How Do I Build A B Minor Chord On The Piano
Building a B minor chord on the piano is easy. Lets begin by finding a B. Thats the root of the chord. Now were going to count up three half-steps, which brings us to D.
Now, we simply count up four more half steps from the middle note. That brings us to F-sharp, the fifth of the chord. Be sure to spell this note as F-sharp and not G-flat!
So, all together we have the notes B, D and F-sharp. Building a B minor piano chord is that easy!
B Minor Chord How To Play Bm Chord On Piano
B minor chord consists of three notes. B D# F .
B is the lowest key note in root position. To play Bm in root position, thumb should be on B , third finger on D, and fifth finger on F# for Right hand. For Left hand play B note with fifth finger, D with third finger and F# with thumb .
D is the lowest key note in first inversion.
Play D with first finger , F# with middle finger and B with fifth finger for Right hand.
Play D with fifth finger, F# with middle finger and B with first finger for Left Hand.
F# is the lowest key note in second inversion.
Play F# with first finger , B with middle finger and D with fifth finger for Right hand.
Play F# with fifth finger, B with middle finger and D with first finger for Left Hand.
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Meet The B Natural Minor Scale
The B minor scale is a musical scale that starts on B. Its relative major key is D, which means it will have the same key signature as D Major, with a C sharp and F sharp marked on the staff.
But, if the B minor key signature and D major key signature are exactly the same, then how do you know if the song is in B minor or in D Major? One quick trick is to look at the very lowest note the song ends on. If this note is a B instead of a D, youre probably in the B minor scale.
A song in the B natural minor scale will also have a minor sound. If you listen to the song, youll hear minor chords and an emphasis on the important tones of the B minor scale, which are B , F sharp , E , and D .
As with all minor keys, B minor has a relative major key that starts one and a half steps higher on the keyboard. To find the relative major key of any minor, start on the first note of the minor scale and go up a whole step and then a half step. In B minor, thats B to C sharp, then C sharp to D. For another example, A minor is the relative of C major. Start on A, go up a whole step to B, then a half step to C.
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