How to Play the B Chord on Guitar

The B chord gives a lot of beginner guitarists trouble, but it doesn’t have to be so bad. In this B chord guitar lesson, you’ll learn how to play it easily.

B Chord Guitar Lesson

The B chord on guitar is actually more of a “closed” chord, which means there aren’t any open strings. Let’s look at how we play that.

The first (index) finger is going to play the second fret on the first string. Then, you’re going to have a conglomeration of all of your fingers that are going to live on the 4th fret.

The easiest way to look at this is second (middle) finger is on the 4th string, your third (ring) finger is on the third string, and your fourth finger (pinky) is on the second string.

So, why we call the B chord on guitar a closed chord is because you don’t play any of the strings you don’t have fingers on. In other words, to play the B chord on guitar, only strum the 4th, 3rd, 2nd, and 1st strings.

Learn How to Play More Guitar Chords

Dig this B chord guitar lesson? Be sure to check out Jeff Scheetz’s 80 Beginner Guitar Chords You MUST Know, which features lessons on beginner guitar chords used in thousands of songs. Because these chords are moveable, you can use them in any key. Jeff demonstrates all of the beginner guitar chords in the video guitar lessons, and also explains how moveable beginner guitar chords work.

80 Guitar Chords You MUST Know includes the following guitar chord lessons: 10 Beginner Guitar Chords You MUST Know, 10 Barre Guitar Chords You MUST Know, 10 Blues Guitar Chords You MUST Know, 10 Jazz Guitar Chords You MUST Know, 10 Rock Guitar Chords You MUST Know, 15 Country Guitar Chords You MUST Know, and 15 Singer Songwriter Guitar Chords You MUST Know.

Free Guitar Chord Chart

Guitar chords are three or more notes played simultaneously. They have a much fuller sound than playing the individual strings. Guitar chord charts, or chord diagrams, show you how to play a chord on the guitar. They display a picture of the guitar neck oriented vertically. The vertical lines are the guitar strings, and the horizontal lines are the frets.

The string to the far left is the thickest, lowest string – the 6th, low E string. The black dots show you where to put your fingers. The numbers at the top of the box are the left-hand fingers that play the notes. An “X” means that a string should not be played, and the “0” denotes an open string, which means it is played with no finger placement.

Download the free guitar chord chart now!