Bm6 guitar chord
An open string left ringing against a fretted grip. Because it costs no finger, it sounds a note the closed shape has none left for -- a tension on top, or a pedal root underneath. Either a familiar grip with open strings added, or a shape so sparse the open strings carry the chord. These belong to their key rather than to a shape, so D, A, G and E have many and Eb a handful.
- Tap a note to hear it
- Arrows change position
- Fingers, notes or intervals
- Play the chord
About Bm6 — open string voicings
Bm6 is B, D, F# and G# — Bm with a major sixth added on top.
It sounds bittersweet — minor underneath, major on top. The major sixth over a minor triad comes from the melodic minor, and it is the classic jazz minor tonic.
Bm6 notes and formula
| B | D | F# | G# |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ♭3 | 5 | 6 |
Minor tonic — an ending chord in a minor key.
Also written Bmin6, B-6 or B minor 6. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play Bm6
An open string left ringing against a fretted grip. It costs no finger, so it can sound a note the closed shape has none left for: a tension on top, or a pedal root underneath.
These belong to their key rather than to a shape: they cannot be moved up the neck. D, A, G and E have many; E♭ has a handful.
Bm6 has 6 of them, on strings 6-4-3-2-1, strings 6-5-4-3-2-1, strings 5-4-3-2-1 and the top four strings, from the 3rd fret up to the 6th — every inversion the chord has: B in the bass, D in the bass and G# in the bass. The one to learn first is the G# shape at the 4th fret, which is the easiest grip here.
Start with x20102 — no barre and 2 open strings. 1 of the 9 shapes here sits in open position. 3 of the 9 need a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 1st fret to the 14th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| x20102 | open position | B, root position | F# | 2 open strings |
| x2413x | 1st fret | B, root position | D | all fretted |
| x24x34 | 2nd fret | B, root position | G# | all fretted |
| xx4434 | 3rd fret | F#, 2nd inversion | G# | barred |
| x5647x | 4th fret | D, 1st inversion | F# | all fretted |
| 7x6777 | 6th fret | B, root position | B | barred |
| 799797 | 7th fret | B, root position | B | barred |
| x-x-9-11-9-10 | 9th fret | B, root position | D | all fretted |
| x-14-12-13-12-14 | 12th fret | B, root position | F# | all fretted |
The same notes rebuilt from scratch give 7 shell, 14 drop 2 and 10 drop 3 voicings, each on its own page.
Tensions. A shell of Bm6, root, third and seventh, leaves a string free, and the tones that belong over it are the 9 (C#) and the 11 (E).
How to use Bm6
How you get to it. The turn that lands on Bm6 is C#m7♭5 to F#7♭9: the ii and the V of B minor, which is where a minor tonic is usually arrived at rather than simply begun on.
In which keys. Every note of Bm6 belongs to F# minor (the iv, the subdominant) and A major (the ii, the supertonic).
What to play over Bm6
Every note of Bm6 is in B dorian, B melodic minor and B half-whole diminished.
Chords near Bm6
Change one note of Bm6 and you have Bm (drop the sixth), Bdim7 (the fifth becomes a flat fifth), Bm69 (add the ninth), Bm7 (the sixth becomes a flat seventh), BmMaj7 (the sixth becomes a major seventh) or Bmadd9 (the sixth becomes a ninth).
Bm6 is a minor chord — root, minor third, fifth. Minor chords on every root.
On Bm6’s sound and use this page follows Mark Levine, The Jazz Piano Book (Sher Music, 1989). The shapes and the derived voicings come from different places, and both are explained in where the chords and the theory come from.