Banjo B7 chord (Sawmill)B seventh on the 5-string banjo: 4 2 3 4, and 4 more shapes

B7 chord chart for 5-string banjo in Sawmill tuning: 4 2 3 4, first position, with the short 5th string marked
B7 (B seventh) on the 5-string banjo, Sawmill: 4 2 3 4, string 4 to string 1 (no root). Fingers are numbered on the dots; copper marks the root; the green ring on the left is the 5th string, solid when it’s in the chord.

Frets, string 4 to string 1: 4 2 3 4 (first position) · no root

  1. String 4 (D): 4th fret, ring finger, F♯
  2. String 3 (G): 2nd fret, index finger, A
  3. String 2 (C): 3rd fret, middle finger, D♯
  4. String 1 (D): 4th fret, little finger, F♯
  5. String 5, the short g: open, G, not in the chord

Sounds: F♯ A D♯ F♯  ·  B7 is B, D♯, F♯, A (1 · 3 · 5 · ♭7)

The 5th string: the short g rubs against the F♯ in this shape, a semitone away: some players let it ring, some skip it.

Sawmill tuning: gDGCD, the short 5th string first, then strings 4 to 1.

Hear it in the app ›

The link can’t set the tuning: the app starts in open G. Choose Sawmill once in its Settings and it remembers.

More B7 shapes

  1. 4fr3124gABF♯A7 4 6 7
    4fr · no 3rd
  2. 6fr4312gBD♯F♯A9 8 6 7
    6fr
  3. 8fr2134gBD♯AB9 8 9 9
    8fr · no 5th
  4. 11fr2413gD♯ABD♯13 14 11 13
    11fr · no 5th

Other B chords in Sawmill

BBmB7Bm7Bmaj7B6Bsus4Bsus2Bdim

Other seventh chords

G7A7D7C7B7E7F7B♭7E♭7F♯7C♯7A♭7

B7 in other tunings

Open GDouble COpen DC Tuning

All Sawmill banjo chords · Printable chart (PDF) · How to tune · The app