Triads
D♭ major chord
Bright, stable and resolved — the foundation of most songs.
D♭ is the I chord in D♭ major, IV in A♭ major and V in F♯ major. In minor keys: III in B♭ minor, V in F♯ minor, VI in F minor and VII in E♭ minor.
- Notes
- D♭FA♭
- Formula
- 135
- Built from
- root · major 3rd · perfect 5th
How to play D♭
About the D♭ major chord
D♭ major sits comfortably on the piano’s black keys and is a favorite of pianists, gospel and jazz players, while guitarists tend to meet it only with a capo or call it C♯. It sounds identical to C♯ major; D♭ is the more common spelling because its key needs five flats instead of seven sharps.
Playing it
There’s no open-string way to play D♭ on guitar with the root in the bass, so the standard shape is a barre across the 4th fret (x46664).
On piano, D♭ has two black keys (D♭ and A♭) and one white key.
On ukulele the usual D♭ shape is 1114, using four fingers.
Related chords
D♭ shares two of its three notes with B♭m (D♭ and F), its relative minor, and with Fm (F and A♭). That overlap is why these chords sound so natural next to each other — and why they can often stand in for one another.
Move a single note and D♭ becomes a different chord: lower F to F♭ for D♭m, add C♭ for D♭7, add C for D♭maj7 and raise F to G♭ for D♭sus4.
Where you’ll hear it
You’ll find D♭ in common progressions such as C♯–G♯–A♯m–F♯ (the pop progression in C♯ major), C♯–F♯–G♯–F♯ (three-chord rock in C♯ major) and C♯–A♯m–F♯–G♯ (the ’50s progression in C♯ major).
