Dm piano chord, D minor notes and fingering.

The Dm piano chord is D minor: the notes D, F and A played together. It is a root (D), a minor third (F, three semitones above the root) and a perfect fifth (A, seven semitones above). Chord charts write it as Dm or Dmin.

How to play Dm on piano

1. Find D on the keyboard. D is the white key in the middle of the pair of black keys, with a black key on each side of it.
2. With your right hand, put finger 1 on D, finger 3 on F and finger 5 on A. Finger 1 is the thumb.
3. Press all three keys together. In root position they run from D4 to A4, a reach of 7 semitones. Play chord sounds them together and Arpeggio sounds them one by one, from the bottom up.
4. Click Left hand to see the left hand. It plays D3 to A3, one octave lower: D with finger 5, F with finger 3, A with finger 1.
5. The cards under the keyboard hold the three positions, with D, F and A at the bottom in turn. Play and Arpeggio on a card play that position.
6. Open Note names. Every note of this chord is a white key, so the Sharps and Flats choices show the same names.

How Dm is built

Counted from the root, the formula is 0, 3, 7. Stacked on each other the gaps are 3 + 4: a minor third (D to F) with a major third (F to A) on top. A minor triad is a major triad with the third moved down one semitone. D major and D minor share D and A, and only the middle note differs: F# against F.

Worked example: the pitch of D4. On a piano tuned to A4 = 440 Hz, a note 7 semitones below A4 has the frequency 440 × 2^(-7/12), which is about 293.66 Hz. F4 is 4 semitones below A4, so 440 × 2^(-4/12) gives about 349.23 Hz.

What the keys look like under your hand

D has a black key on each side, C# on its left and Eb on its right. All three notes are white keys (D, F and A), so the hand can stay flat and there is no reaching for a black key. The thumb (D) and little finger (A) are both on white keys here, so the hand can lie in its natural shape.

Dm inversions and fingering

Dm has three positions. In root position D is at the bottom. In the first inversion, F is at the bottom and the chord is written Dm/F. In the second inversion, A is at the bottom and the chord is written Dm/A. The tightest reach, 7 semitones from the lowest key to the highest, is the root position. The widest, at 9, is the first inversion.

The keys that hold Dm

Dm fits six of the major and natural minor keys that have a standard key signature, which means every note of it comes from that key's scale. The simplest is C major, with no sharps or flats, where it is chord ii.

Progressions that use Dm, with the chord numbers and the chords in that key:

• C major: ii-V-I, which is Dm, G, C, the ii-V-I, the standard jazz resolution.
• A minor: i-iv-v-i, which is Am, Dm, Em, Am, the minor-key cadence.
• F major: I-V-vi-IV, which is F, C, Dm, Bb, the four-chord loop heard in a great deal of pop.

Here is a worked example in C major. The chord before Dm in the first progression above is C (C, E and G). From C in root position, the closest way to reach Dm is its root position (D, F and A, lowest note first): no note stays in place, and the notes move 5 semitones in total, counting each note against the note in the same place from the bottom.

What Dm sounds like

Minor chords sound darker and more serious than major ones, and they carry the mood of many songs. They are not only for sad music, though: in a major key the ii, iii and vi chords are all minor, so a bright song uses them too.

Dm is the ii chord in C major, the iv chord in A minor and the vi chord in F major.

A common mistake with Dm

A common mistake is pressing F# instead of F, one semitone higher than the third of Dm. That turns the chord into D major (D, F# and A). If your Dm sounds too bright, check the middle finger first.

Chords to learn next

Chords close to Dm: D major (same root, with a major third; shares D and A); Dm7 (adds a minor seventh; contains all its notes); Ddim (lowers the fifth; shares D and F); F major (its relative major; shares F and A).

Once Dm feels easy, play it and then D major to hear what one note changes. For chords beyond these six types, and for guitar and ukulele shapes, use the chord finder. To play along with your computer keys, open the virtual piano. The piano chords page lists all 72 chords.