How to play the B Dominant 7th chord on guitar
B7 is the practical substitute for the full B barre and is idiomatic rather than a compromise — in a blues in E it is the correct sound. Its four-finger shape looks intimidating but requires no barre at all.
B Dominant 7th is a dominant seventh: the B triad with a flattened seventh on top — B, D#, F#, A. That added note is what gives it its bluesy, unfinished pull.
Finger it one string at a time
- low E string: don't play it.
- A string: fret 2 with your middle finger.
- D string: fret 1 with your index finger.
- G string: fret 2 with your ring finger.
- B string: play it open.
- high E string: fret 2 with your pinky.
Uses all four fingers. Often leads into an E major chord.
What makes this shape awkward
- 1 string stays silent, so your strumming hand has to start on the right string. Aim the pick rather than sweeping all six.
Where you'll use it
B7 appears in 1 of the play-along progression in RiffRoute. These are the actual sequences it sits in:
- Pocket Funk (Funk, 100 BPM) —
E7 → A7 → B7
Chords it's usually played with
In the progressions that use B7, these turn up alongside it most often — learning them together is more useful than learning B7 alone.
If this one is still too hard
B Dominant 7th is an intermediate shape. These beginner chords use a related root or quality and are worth getting clean first:
Hear it and check yourself
Reading a diagram only gets you so far — the part that decides whether B7 sounds right is whether every string rings cleanly. RiffRoute plays the chord back, listens while you strum it, and tells you which string is buzzing.