Bm7 Guitar Chord: 7 Essential Chords You Must Know

Want to learn the Bm7 guitar chord? You’ve come to the right place!

In this free guitar lesson you will learn:

• 7 essential ways to play the Bm7 guitar chord.
• The no1 secret that will make your barre chords sound amazing.
• 2 quick & easy guitar tricks that will enhance your musicality.

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So what is a Bm7 guitar chord?

A Bm7 chord is a Bm chord. Think of ‘Bm7’ as a more sophisticated version of a Bm chord.

A Bm chord has the following intervals:

• B (Root)
• D (Minor 3rd)
• F# (5th)

Where as a Bm7 chord has:

• B (Root)
• D (Minor 3rd)
• F# (5th)
• A (Flattened 7th)

As you can see the only difference between a Bm and a Bm7 is that Bm7 has an A note.

Bonus Theory Tip!

To turn ANY minor chord into a minor 7 chord you simply add the note that’s one step below the root.

To learn more about guitar theory, go here: Guitar Theory: The 4 Step System For Rapid Progress

Easy Ways To Play The Bm7 Guitar Chord

If you’re a beginner guitarist and want an easy to play the Bm7 guitar chord, this voicing is perfect:

To play this chord:

• Place your 1st finger on the 2nd fret of the A string. (5th string.)
• Place your 2nd finger on the 2nd fret of the G string. (3rd string.)
• Place your 3rd finger on the 3rd fret of the B string. (2nd string.)
• Strum from the A string. (5th string.)

No complicated barring is required, just a great sounding Bm7 guitar chord.

Don’t worry if you accidentally hit the high E string. A Bm7 chord with an E note added to it is called a Bm11.

To learn this chord, go here: Bm Guitar Chord For Beginners

The low E string however, that string needs to be left out of the chord or it will very much pollute the sound of it.

Bm7 Guitar Chord – Open Voicing

This voicing of the Bm7 guitar chord is fantastic for beginners.

To play this chord:

• Place your 1st finger on the 2nd fret of the A string. (5th string.)
• Place your 2nd finger on the 2nd fret of the G string. (3rd string.)
• Place your 3rd finger on the 2nd fret of the high E string. (1st string.)
• Strum from the A string. (5th string.)

This version of the Bm7 guitar chord keeps all three fingers in one fret. It’s a bit like an A chord, except the fingers are more spread apart from each other.

For that reason, it changes very nicely to and from an A chord.

Bm11 – A Two Finger Alternative

Some people struggle with three finger chords at first.

If that’s the case, you could try playing a Bm11 instead of a Bm7.

To play this chord:

• Place your 1st finger on the 2nd fret of the A string. (5th string.)
• Place your 2nd finger on the 2nd fret of the G string. (3rd string.)
• Strum from the A string. (5th string.)

You’ll notice that either of our previous Bm7 guitar chords could be transformed into this chord by leaving out the 3rd finger.

If you’re struggling to use three fingers at present, try the Bm11 chord first and then try adding that third finger later on.

Learning the guitar is good for you mind and body, find out why in this article by Guitar World: 10 Reasons Why Playing Guitar Is Good For Your Mind And Body

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Bm7 Barre Chords

If you’re an intermediate guitarist, you may well be ready to try some Bm7 barre chords.

Discalimer: Barre chords are tough. If you’re a beginner, steer well clear for the moment and stick to the easier voicings we looked at in the previous section.

This is the most common Bm7 guitar chord:

• Barre your first finger on the 2nd fret from the A string (5th string) to the high E string. (1st string.)
• Place your 3rd finger on the 4th fret of the D string. (4th string.)
• Place your 2nd finger on the 3rd fret of the B string. (2nd string.)

If you find this chord tough, here are some tips and tricks which will help you master barre chords.

For more information on barre chords, go here: Barre Chords: The Ultimate Guide

Bm7 Guitar Chord (The Em7 Shape)

The second most common barre chord is the ‘Em7 shape’. Here’s the chord box:

To play this chord:

• Barre your first finger across all of the strings on the 7th fret.
• Place your 3rd finger on the 9th fret of the A string. (5th string.)

Again, you may notice that this is an Em7 shape, but moved up the fretboard using a barre.

To learn the Em7 chord, go here: Em Guitar Chord – 4 Easy Ways To Play This Essential Chord

This one can be really tough because we have to press down all the strings with just one finger, but like a lot of things we learn, practice and patience is key.

Bm7 Guitar Chord (Easy Barre Version)

If you’re struggling a bit with barring, you could try this version:

To play this chord:

• Barre your first finger across the 7th fret of the D (4th string), G (3rd string), B (2nd string) and E string. (1st string.)

This smaller barre chord of Bm7 can serve as a ‘stepping-stone’ between ordinary beginner versions of the Bm7 guitar chord and the full barre chord versions.

Note that we’re not having to barre across quite so many strings. This makes this barre chord slightly easier. This chord is perfect for styles of music like reggae, ska and funk.

Bm7 Guitar Chord (Funk Voicing)

If you like the funky sound of these chords, you might like this version of the Bm7 guitar chord:

To play this chord:

• Place your 1st finger on the 9th fret of the D string. (4th string.)
• Place your 4th finger on the 11th fret of the G string. (3rd string.)
• Place your 2nd finger on the 10th fret of the B string. (2nd string.)
• Place your 3rd finger on the 10th fret of the high E string. (1st string.)

Notice that we’re getting progressively further up the guitar neck as we go with these chords. Acoustic guitarists may well not like this version of the Bm7 guitar chord too much as the action is very high in this area of the fretboard.

Therefore chords can be trickier to play. Also, if your acoustic guitar doesn’t have a cutaway you may also struggle to access this area of the fretboard.

However, electric guitarists will love this funky voicing of the Bm7 guitar chord. This chord is even approachable for beginner guitarists as it doesn’t require any barring.