Triads
D minor chord
Darker and more melancholy than major, but just as stable.
Dm is the ii chord in C major, iii in B♭ major and vi in F major. In minor keys: i in D minor and iv in A minor.
- Notes
- DFA
- Formula
- 1♭35
- Built from
- root · minor 3rd · perfect 5th
How to play Dm
About the D minor chord
D minor has a stately, sorrowful quality that suits laments and film music. It’s the ii chord in C major and the relative minor of F.
Playing it
On guitar, Dm has an open-position shape, xx0231, using three fingers alongside the open strings. Don’t strum the low E and A strings.
On piano, Dm sits entirely on white keys.
On ukulele the usual Dm shape is 2210, using three fingers.
Related chords
Dm 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 Dm becomes a different chord: raise F to F♯ for D, add C for Dm7, swap F for G for Dsus4 and lower F to E for Dsus2.
Where you’ll hear it
You’ll find Dm in common progressions such as Dm–B♭–F–C (the minor-feel pop progression in F major), Dm–Gm–A–Dm (the minor cadence in D minor) and Dm–C–B♭–A (the Andalusian cadence in D minor).
