D Minor Chord on Piano – What It Is and How to Play

Learn how to play D Minor Chord on Piano.

Chords are an excellent tool for helping you learn to play your favorite songs. While there are many different chords, a great starting point is learning theD minor chord on piano.

The D minor chord is one of the easiest to learn, and is used in many songs and styles of music. 

What Notes Are in the D minor Chord?

The D minor chord is made up of three notes – D, F, and A. The D minor chord can be played by either hand, and can be played in any octave on the piano. 

The musical effect you desire and the needs of the song you are playing will impact where on the piano you choose to play the chord. Feel free to experiment with playing the D minor chord in all of the different octaves of the piano to hear the different effects it has! 

The images below show how the D minor chord looks when notated in both the treble clef (for the right hand) and the bass clef (for the left hand). 

D minor chord in treble clef
D minor chord in bass clef

Which Fingers Should I Use to Play the Chord? 

When playing the piano, each finger is given its own number. The finger numbers are the same for each hand. For example, the thumb is number one on each hand. The pointer finger is number two, the middle finger is number three, the ring finger is number four, and the pinky is number five. 

These finger numbers are illustrated in the images below. 

Left hand finger numbers
Left hand finger numbers 
Right hand finger numbers 
Right hand finger numbers 

Here are the fingers you will use for each note when playing the D minor chord in the left hand:

  • D – finger five
  • F – finger three
  • A – finger one

Here are the fingers you will use for each note when playing the D minor chord in the right hand:

  • D – finger one
  • F – finger three
  • A – finger five 

D Minor Chord on Piano – Left Hand

You are now ready to play the D minor chord! 

First, try playing the D minor chord with your left hand. The image below shows how to play the D minor chord in the left hand with the proper fingering. Your pinky will play D, your middle finger will play F, and your thumb will play A. 

Remember to keep your fingers curved, and to play with the tips of your fingers! You will notice that all of the notes used in the chord are played on white keys. 

D minor chord played with the left hand (pinky on D, middle finger on F, thumb on A)
D minor chord played with the left hand (pinky on D, middle finger on F, thumb on A)

Playing chords in the left hand is a great way to accompany melodies played in the right hand. As you learn more notes and chords on the piano, it can be fun to find music which uses left hand chords to accompany the melody. Lead sheets are a type of sheet music that features the melody written out for the right hand, with chord names written above the notes. 

These chords can then be played in the left hand. Lead sheets are a great tool for helping you learn to play your favorite songs!  

Berklee College of Music has even more information on lead sheets.. 

D Minor Chord on Piano – Right Hand

Now we will focus on playing the D minor chord in the right hand. The image below shows how to play the D minor chord in the right hand with the proper fingering. Your thumb will play D, your middle finger will play F, and your pinky will play A. 

Remember—always play with your fingers curved, and with the tips of your fingers! When playing the chord with the right hand, you will still be playing all white keys, just like when you played the chord in the left hand.

D minor chord played with the right hand (thumb on D, middle finger on F, pinky on A)
D minor chord played with the right hand (thumb on D, middle finger on F, pinky on A)

When Will I Use the D Minor Chord? 

This is an excellent question, and the answer is that it depends on the music you are playing. Some pieces of music are written in the key of D minor. This just means that D minor will be the most important chord, and will be played many times throughout the music. 

Other pieces of music are in different keys, meaning that the D minor chord will not be the most important chord, but could still be used frequently throughout the music. There are also pieces of music that do not use the D minor chord, as most pieces of music do not use every chord. 

Conclusion

Hopefully, you have this article and images to be extremely helpful when it comes to learning D minor chord on piano.  Learning the piano isn’t easy, but with consistent practice and patience, you’ll slowly chip away at mastering this awesome instrument!

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Frequently Asked Questions

Yes, there are! You can play the three notes of the D minor chord in any order, and you will still have a D minor chord. When you change the order of the notes in the chord, this is called playing the chord in an inversion. 

If you play the D minor chord with an F as the lowest note, you are playing the chord in first inversion. If you play the D minor chord with an A as the lowest note, you are playing the chord in second inversion. 

To many people, minor chords sound sad, and major chords sound happy. The middle note of a minor chord is just a little bit lower than the middle note of a major chord, which is what makes this phenomenon possible. That being said, whether chords sound happy or sad depends on context. 

For example, the song “Leviating” by Dua Lipa uses all minor chords, but it does not sound sad to most people. 

Other factors, such as rhythms, instrumentation, and the notes used in the melody, have huge impacts on the emotions a piece of music can convey. NME has a great article about minor chords and keys, and the science behind the emotions they can summon. 

There are three forms of the minor scale, so the answer depends on which form of the scale you are discussing. The three forms of the minor scale are the natural, harmonic, and melodic minor scales. Here are the notes used in each of these scales. Please note that the melodic minor scale changes which notes are used as you go up the scale and down the scale, so there are more notes listed for that scale. 

Natural minor: D E F G A B-flat C D

Harmonic minor: D E F G A B-flat C-sharp D 

Melodic minor: D E F-sharp G A B C-sharp D C B-flat A G F E D

You now know which notes are in the D minor chord, which fingers to use to play them, and how to play the chord! 

Congratulations on learning how to play the D minor chord on piano! If you would like to dive further and listen to some classical music in the key of D minor, this article from Interlude features five pieces of music, most of which are written for the piano. Now go and use your newfound knowledge of the D minor chord in your practicing, so that you can get even better at playing the piano! 

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