The Bm chord, or B minor is one of the first barre chords you'll learn. Generally, it is played barring the second fret and muting the sixth string, or low E string. When first learning how to play guitar, it’s important to apply what you learned to actual music, or songs. Guitartricks has a huge song library you can browse, all featuring varied chord progressions, barre chords, and more. In this article, let’s focus on a couple of songs that feature the Bm chord.
For reference, here is the Bm chord.
For more variations on the Bm chord, check out our guitar chord charts.
Hotel California Chords
“Hotel California” by the Eagles uses the Bm chord in a couple of ways. In the full version of the song, the band strums the Bm chord up at the 7th fret using an electric guitar.
In our Made Easy version of the song, you can simply play the song with a Bm chord at the 2nd fret. This is really great practice if you’re just starting to learn barre chords. Give it a try yourself and play the opening section using these chords: Bm - F# - A - E - G - D - Em - F#
While My Guitar Gently Weeps Chords
The Bm chord is played in this Beatles classic written by George Harrison in the bridge section. The rhythm guitar uses common chord progressions and basic guitar chords, while the second guitar attacks with lead fills and arpeggios.
An arpeggio is when the guitarist plays the individuals notes of a chord. For example, in this song, the Bm chord is arpeggiated, which adds a bit more layers to the song and flows nicely with the strumming of the rhythm guitar.
Bm arpeggio looks something like this:
E|---------------------2
B|-----------------3----
G|-------------4--------
D|---------4------------
A|----2-----------------
E|----------------------
Playing arpeggios are also a nice way to check if you’re holding barre chords correctly, too. Beginner guitar players have trouble getting all of the notes to ring true so if you play each individually, you’ll be able to hear which notes sing while others are muted.
Try playing the bridge of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” with these chords, and try and play arpeggios, too: Am - C#m - F#m - C#m - Bm - E
If you need more help with your Bm chord, make sure to check out Guitar Fundamentals 1, where Guitar Tricks instructor Lisa McCormick will teach you how to master that tricky barre chord.
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