How to play B (B Major) on Bass

B is the B major chord. It is built from 3 notes — B, D# and F# — which sit at the root, major third and perfect fifth above the root B. Written as a formula that is 1P – 3M – 5P. Those intervals, not the note names, are what give the chord its character: move all of them to a different root and you still hear a major chord.

B on bass is a movable shape with no open strings, fretted between fret 7 and fret 9, the shape spans 3 frets, 2 strings are muted and should not sound — damp them with the underside of a fretting finger. Since the shape uses no open strings it is fully movable: slide it one fret higher and you have the same chord a semitone up, which is the cheapest way to learn eleven more chords from one hand position.

The major third between B and D# is what makes this chord sound bright and settled. Flatten that one note by a semitone and you have B minor instead — a single semitone is the whole distance between the two moods. With only the triad and no added seventh, the chord is stable and finished-sounding, which makes it a natural place for a phrase to land.

B belongs to 3 major keys, including E major, where it is the V chord, B major, where it is the I chord and F# major, where it is the IV chord. That is the practical reason to learn it: a chord that is diatonic to several keys turns up constantly, and knowing which degree it occupies tells you what tends to come next. A V chord in E major most often moves toward the tonic, so practising B in the context of E will teach you more than practising it in isolation.