Mastering D Minor Chord: An Interactive Guitar Guide

Dm is the D minor chord, built from D, F and A. Of its 19 voicings on this page, seven use open strings and seven are barre shapes, so it can be played near the nut or higher up the neck.

You meet Dm as vi in F major, ii in C major and iii in Bb major, so it appears in many common chord progressions. Every note belongs to the D minor scale.

Strum it into your microphone and the chord player at the top shows which strings sound and which are muted.

D minor guitar chord is also written as Dm, Dmin, D- or Dmi.

Notes in the D m chord:

D F A

How the Minor chord is built:

Formula: 1 b3 5

D M Chord Interactive Fretboard

Want a structured chord roadmap instead of jumping between pages?
Go to the full guitar chords tutorial.

D M Guitar Chord Diagrams

Position 1 Open

Finger Positions

Mute the low E string
Let the A string play without pressing any fret
Let the D string play without pressing any fret
Place your index finger (1) on the fret 1 of the high E string
Place your middle finger (2) on the fret 2 of the G string
Place your ring finger (3) on the fret 3 of the B string

Position 2 Barre Movable

Finger Positions

Mute the low E string
Place your index finger (1) on the fret 5 of the A and high E strings at the same time
Place your middle finger (2) on the fret 6 of the B string
Place your ring finger (3) on the fret 7 of the D string
Place your pinky finger (4) on the fret 7 of the G string

Position 3 Barre Movable

Finger Positions

Place your index finger (1) on the fret 10 of the low E, G, B and high E strings at the same time
Place your ring finger (3) on the fret 12 of the A string
Place your pinky finger (4) on the fret 12 of the D string

Position 4 Open

Finger Positions

Mute the low E string
Mute the A string
Let the D string play without pressing any fret
Place your index finger (1) on the fret 1 of the high E string
Place your middle finger (2) on the fret 2 of the G string
Place your ring finger (3) on the fret 3 of the B string

Position 5 Movable

Finger Positions

Mute the A string
Mute the D string
Mute the B string
Mute the high E string
Place your middle finger (2) on the fret 10 of the low E string
Place your ring finger (3) on the fret 10 of the G string

Position 6 Movable

Finger Positions

Mute the low E string
Mute the A string
Mute the D string
Mute the G string
Place your index finger (1) on the fret 6 of the B string
Place your pinky finger (4) on the fret 10 of the high E string

Position 7 Movable

Finger Positions

Mute the low E string
Mute the A string
Place your index finger (1) on the fret 5 of the high E string
Place your middle finger (2) on the fret 6 of the B string
Place your ring finger (3) on the fret 7 of the D string
Place your pinky finger (4) on the fret 7 of the G string

Position 8 Open

Finger Positions

Mute the A string
Let the D string play without pressing any fret
Mute the high E string
Place your index finger (1) on the fret 1 of the low E string
Place your middle finger (2) on the fret 2 of the G string
Place your pinky finger (4) on the fret 3 of the B string

Position 9 Movable

Finger Positions

Mute the low E string
Mute the A string
Mute the high E string
Place your middle finger (2) on the fret 6 of the B string
Place your ring finger (3) on the fret 7 of the D string
Place your pinky finger (4) on the fret 7 of the G string

Position 10 Barre Movable

Finger Positions

Mute the low E string
Mute the A string
Place your index finger (1) on the fret 10 of the G, B and high E strings at the same time
Place your ring finger (3) on the fret 12 of the D string

Position 11 Barre Movable

Finger Positions

Mute the D string
Mute the B string
Place your index finger (1) on the fret 10 of the low E, G and high E strings at the same time
Place your ring finger (3) on the fret 12 of the A string

Position 12 Barre Open

Finger Positions

Mute the low E string
Mute the A string
Let the D string play without pressing any fret
Place your index finger (1) on the fret 10 of the G, B and high E strings at the same time

Position 13 Barre Open

Finger Positions

Mute the low E string
Let the D string play without pressing any fret
Mute the B string
Place your index finger (1) on the fret 10 of the G and high E strings at the same time
Place your ring finger (3) on the fret 12 of the A string

Position 14 Movable

Finger Positions

Mute the low E string
Mute the high E string
Place your index finger (1) on the fret 5 of the A string
Place your middle finger (2) on the fret 6 of the B string
Place your ring finger (3) on the fret 7 of the D string
Place your pinky finger (4) on the fret 7 of the G string

Position 15 Barre Movable

Finger Positions

Mute the low E string
Mute the D string
Place your index finger (1) on the fret 5 of the A and high E strings at the same time
Place your middle finger (2) on the fret 6 of the B string
Place your ring finger (3) on the fret 7 of the G string

Position 16 Open

Finger Positions

Mute the low E string
Let the A string play without pressing any fret
Mute the G string
Mute the high E string
Place your middle finger (2) on the fret 3 of the D string
Place your ring finger (3) on the fret 3 of the B string

Position 17 Movable

Finger Positions

Mute the low E string
Mute the B string
Mute the high E string
Place your index finger (1) on the fret 2 of the G string
Place your middle finger (2) on the fret 3 of the D string
Place your pinky finger (4) on the fret 5 of the A string

Position 18 Movable

Finger Positions

Mute the low E string
Mute the A string
Mute the D string
Place your index finger (1) on the fret 5 of the high E string
Place your middle finger (2) on the fret 6 of the B string
Place your ring finger (3) on the fret 7 of the G string

Position 19 Open

Finger Positions

Mute the low E string
Mute the A string
Let the D string play without pressing any fret
Place your index finger (1) on the fret 5 of the high E string
Place your middle finger (2) on the fret 6 of the B string
Place your ring finger (3) on the fret 7 of the G string

Find more shapes in our all guitar chords online library. If you prefer a printable pdf, download the Free Guitar Chords Chart Pdf

Play This Chord With Other Roots

C m | D m | E m | F m | G m | A m | B m | C#m | D#m | F#m | G#m | A#m | Abm | Bbm | Dbm | Ebm | Gbm

The D Minor Chord | Keys, Fingerings and Progressions

The standard way to play the D minor chord is a 3 finger shape with the open D string

Finger Placement:

Index finger: 1st fret of the high E (1st) string.
Middle finger: 2nd fret of the G (3rd) string.
Ring finger: 3rd fret of the B (2nd) string.

Strum from the D (4th) string down to the high E (1st) string.

It's important to avoid playing the A (5th) and low E (6th) strings.

Keys With The D Minor Chord

C Major Key

The most common place in which you'll find the D minor chord is the C major scale.

Here the D minor is at the 2nd degree, acting as supertonic.

Key	I	ii	iii	IV	V	vi	vii
C	C	Dm	Em	F	G	Am	B dim

F Major Key

In the F Major key, Dm is the relative minor, placed at 6th degree.

Key	I	ii	iii	IV	V	vi	vii
F	F	Gm	Am	Bb	C	Dm	E dim

Bb Major Key

The B-flat major is among the most popular keys for concert bands, that include instruments like the clarinet, saxophone, and soprano trumpet.

It's rarely used on guitar, anyway the Dm is located at the 3rd degree of this key.

Key	I	ii	iii	IV	V	vi	vii
Bb	Bb	Cm	Dm	Eb	F	Gm	A dim

A Minor Key

This is a great key to play the D minor chord. In fact, the minor version of the 1-4-5 progression, is Am, Dm and Em.

Give it a try to fell how it sounds cool!

Key	i	ii	III	iv	v	VI	VII
A	Am	B dim	C	Dm	Em	F	G

G Minor Key

In the G minor key the D m chord act as dominant. Try again the 1-4-5 progression, which is Gm, Cm and Dm in this case.

Key	i	ii	III	iv	v	VI	VII
G	Gm	A dim	Bb	Cm	Dm	Eb	F

Popular Progressions With The D Minor Chord

The Dm chord is present in many songs and progressions, here a list of cool sequences you can try:

i-iv-VII: Dm, Gm and C, in the key of D minor
i-iv-V: Dm, Gm, A, in the key of D minor
I-vi-ii-V: C, Am, Dm, G, in the key of C major

You find more chord progressions in all keys in my complete ebook 52 Chord Progressions | Learn How To Connect Chords and Create Great Songs.

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You'll learn how to play 44 chords types across all the fretboard, with many voicings and fingerings

In the ebook you can also find maps show you the tones in a chord all along the fretboard. They are incredibly helpful because allow you to:

Create new voicings on the fly, across all the neck
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Created by

Giancarlo Facoetti

Giancarlo is a musician (teaching guitar since 2000), software engineer, AI consultant and published researcher

FAQ

What notes does Dm contain?

D, F and A. The F is the minor third, three semitones from D, and A is the perfect fifth.

Where does D minor appear as a diatonic chord?

Dm is the vi chord in F major, the ii chord in C major and the iii chord in Bb major. It is the i chord in D minor.

How many ways are there to play Dm?

There are nineteen voicings, seven with open strings and seven using a barre. They span fret 1 to fret 12.

How does Dm differ from D major?

D major is D, F# and A. Dm lowers the F# by one semitone to F, which is what makes the third and the whole chord minor.

Which scale fits Dm?

The D minor scale: D, E, F, G, A, Bb and C. All three chord notes are in it, along with the notes in between.