Triads
D♭ minor chord
Darker and more melancholy than major, but just as stable.
D♭m is the ii chord in B major, iii in A major and vi in E major. In minor keys: i in C♯ minor and iv in G♯ minor.
- Notes
- D♭F♭A♭
- Formula
- 1♭35
- Built from
- root · minor 3rd · perfect 5th
How to play D♭m
About the D♭ minor chord
Playing it
On guitar, D♭m has an open-position shape, x42120, using four fingers alongside the open strings. Don’t strum the low E string.
On piano, D♭m has two black keys (D♭ and A♭) and one white key.
On ukulele the usual D♭m shape is 1104, using three fingers.
Related chords
D♭m shares two of its three notes with F♭ (F♭ and A♭), its relative major, and with B𝄫 (D♭ and F♭). 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♭m becomes a different chord: raise F♭ to F for D♭, add C♭ for D♭m7, swap F♭ for G♭ for D♭sus4 and lower F♭ to E♭ for D♭sus2.
Where you’ll hear it
You’ll find D♭m in common progressions such as C♯m–A–E–B (the minor-feel pop progression in E major), C♯m–F♯m–G♯–C♯m (the minor cadence in C♯ minor) and C♯m–B–A–G♯ (the Andalusian cadence in C♯ minor).
Notice the F♭ in D♭m (D♭ F♭ A♭): each note of the chord takes its own letter (D–F–A), so the minor 3rd has to be written F♭ rather than E — the same key on a piano, spelled to fit the chord.
