Dreamy Chords in B Major

Why don’t Guitar Players Play much in B major?

Today I want to talk to you about the B major key and why guitar players don’t usually play in that key.

I find B major to be an exciting key with dreamy chords and beautiful chord-melody voicing, yet I don’t see many guitar players playing around with it.

It is true, though, that a key like E minor or D major offers easier possibilities and more “friendly” chords, but we should always push ourselves out of the comfort zone and try new challenging things.

In this guitar lesson, I am going to show you a chord progression in B major that sounds dreamy.

Dreamy chords usually have add9, add11, and #11 extensions so that we will base the chord progression around those extensions.

As always, make sure you take things step by step and learn one chord at a time.

I wouldn’t really consider this lesson beginner-friendly, but I highly recommend anyone to give it a try.

Fingerstyle makes it possible!

Be inspired.

Let’s get started.

The Video

The Dreamy Chords

How they are done

One of the main characteristics of the B major key is the fact that we can use the top two open strings (E and B) as extensions. These two strings will relate differently to each chord, so this trick doesn’t work all the time.

The trick with add11 chords are the fact that you want to play the major 3rd and 11 together. I will explain that better later when we analyze the chords.

The chord progression we are working on today goes as follows: Bmaj(add11), F#maj(Add11/9), Emaj(add9/#11), Gm, F#maj(Add11). 

As you can see, a ton of add11 chords.

Let get into details.

Bmaj(add11)

Starting from the bass note, you will play the Root (6th string), root (4th string), major 3rd (3rd string), root (second string), and add11 (first string)

F#maj(Add11/9)

This chord will have Root (6th string), root(4th string), major 3rd (3rd string), add11(2nd string), and maj9 (1st string)

Emaj(add9/#11)

This chord sounds a little bit different than previews two chords. We will have Root (6th string), #11 (3rd string), perfect 5th (2nd string), and add9 (1st string).

Other Chords

There are also other chords such as G minor and a different F#maj(Add11/9), which are easier to play.

Check the diagrams below.