The B7 chord
The V of E, which means it pulls hard back to the open Em or E that follows it. The B7 (B - D# - F# - A) is a dominant seventh, which is why it sounds tense in the most useful way. Writers pick it for forward motion, and you can find it across blues, jazz and any song that needs a strong pull to the next chord. On guitar the chord sits right under the fingers in open position; on piano it stacks straight up under the right hand. The page below covers the voicings worth memorising, the theory, the progressions where the B7 earns its keep, and the records that lean on it.
Hear the B7 in the chord builder →Voicings for B7
Common ways to grip the B7 on guitar and piano. Guitar diagrams read low E to high E left-to-right; an × means muted, an open circle above the nut means an open string. Filled dots are fretted notes.
Guitar , full chord shapes
CAGED-derived voicings for B7 across the neck. Pick the shape closest to where your hand already sits.
Guitar , triad shapes
Three-note triad shapes on each string set, shown moving up the neck. Light textures for arpeggios, pop layering and chord-melody work.
Piano voicings
Root position and inversions. The bass note matters: each inversion changes how the chord sits under a melody.
The theory behind B7
Progressions that use B7
Short progressions that put the B7 to work. Each one is shown in a different key so you can pick the one that suits your singer.
This chord appears as a borrowed or passing chord in many major-key progressions.
→ Build this in the chord builderSongs that feature B7
Real records where this chord does structural work. No lyrics quoted, just the title and artist so you can pull up a copy and hear it in context.
- Stand By Me by Ben E. King. B7 as the V chord that pulls back to E.
- Mr. Sandman by The Chordettes. B7 in the vintage turnaround.
- Folsom Prison Blues by Johnny Cash. B7 as a transition chord.
Related chords
Chords a step away from the B7 in the songwriting circle, the natural neighbours when you want a substitution.
Keys where B7 lives
The keys where this chord turns up diatonically. Open any key page for the full set of progressions that lean on it.
Related references
Other ways to put the B7 to work across the reference library.
More songwriting tools
Got the chord but still wrestling with the lyric? Find the right rhyme in RhymeForge, or break a writer's block with the unexpected word-pair generator in CollisionLab. Need to map a full progression? The chord builder on the home page is where the B7 fits into context. All free, no signup.
About the chord builder
The Undercover Zest chord progression builder is a free interactive tool that maps every diatonic and borrowed chord in every key. Click a Roman numeral to hear it, drag chords into a progression, then audition voicings, inversions and tensions until the song clicks.
This page is a static reference for the B7. For interactive playback, voice-leading hints and substitution suggestions, open the chord builder above.