B7, the B dominant 7 guitar chord
B7 is the open A7 grip carried up two frets: the index barres five strings at the 2nd fret and the low E stays out of the strum. Coming from B major, the flat ring finger stops covering three strings and holds only the D string, the pinky picks up the B string, and the G string drops back onto the barre. B7 pulls hard toward E, which is why blues and folk in the key of E lean on it so often. That freed G string is the whole difference between B7 and plain B, so pick it on its own. If you fret it out of habit, or if the barre lets it die, you’re playing B and the pull disappears.
How to play it
- Index finger flattened across the A string (5th), G string (3rd) and high E string (1st), 2nd fret.
- Ring finger on the D string (4th), 4th fret.
- Pinky on the B string (2nd), 4th fret.
- Don't strum the low E string (6th). It stays silent in this shape.
Changes to practice
Holding B7 still is the easy part. Songs need you to arrive at it in rhythm, so in Strumhold you practice B7 as changes, alongside the rest of the Barre 7ths set: