D6 — D sixth chord
A major triad with the sixth added. Contains the same notes as the minor seventh chord a minor third below it.
- 1 = D
- 3 = F#
- 5 = A
- 6 = B
- Symbol
- D6
- Root
- D
- Quality
- Sixth
- Family
- added
- Notes
- D F# A B
- Degree formula
1 3 5 6- Semitones from the root
0 4 7 9- Distinct pitch classes
- 4
- Interval structure
- Stacked from the root: 4 semitones, 3 semitones, 2 semitones
- Notation
- Written 6. Common as a tonic chord in jazz and swing, and in country and western accompaniment.
- Key
- D · D major / B minor key signature
Formula
The chord tones in order from the root, with the interval each one forms above it.
| Degree | Note | Semitones | Interval from the root |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | D | 0 | Perfect unison |
| 3 | F# | 4 | Major third |
| 5 | A | 7 | Perfect fifth |
| 6 | B | 9 | Major sixth |
Inversions
An inversion is the same set of notes with a different one in the bass. The last column gives the distance of each note above the bass note, in semitones.
| Inversion | Bass note | Degree in the bass | Notes above the bass | Semitones above the bass |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| root position | D | 1 | D – F# – A – B | 0 4 7 9 |
| first inversion | F# | 3 | F# – A – B – D | 0 3 5 8 |
| second inversion | A | 5 | A – B – D – F# | 0 2 5 9 |
| third inversion | B | 6 | B – D – F# – A | 0 3 7 10 |
Playable voicings
These shapes were found by searching the fretboard of a standard-tuned guitar (E A D G B E) rather than copied from a chord book. The search allows every string to sound or to be muted, rejects any shape with a muted string between two sounding strings, rejects any shape whose fretted notes span more than four frets (a five-fret window), requires every chord tone to be present, and then sorts what remains with root-position shapes first and the most compact, lowest shapes next. The shapes shown are the first six of that ordering; other orderings are possible at the same frets.
| # | Shape (low string first) | Notes | Degrees | Bass | Span (frets) | Sounding strings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10-9-9-11-10-10 | D F# B F# A D | 1 3 6 3 5 1 | D | 2 | 6 |
| 2 | 10-12-12-11-12-10 | D A D F# B D | 1 5 1 3 6 1 | D | 2 | 6 |
| 3 | 10-9-7-7-7-7 | D F# A D F# B | 1 3 5 1 3 6 | D | 3 | 6 |
| 4 | 10-9-7-7-10-7 | D F# A D A B | 1 3 5 1 5 6 | D | 3 | 6 |
| 5 | 10-9-9-7-10-7 | D F# B D A B | 1 3 6 1 5 6 | D | 3 | 6 |
| 6 | 10-9-9-7-10-10 | D F# B D A D | 1 3 6 1 5 1 | D | 3 | 6 |
Shape numbers run from the lowest string to the highest, so the left-hand number is the sixth string (low E) in standard tuning. Multiple shapes are listed because a chord can be voiced several ways, and because a lower position is not always the better sounding one.
Related chords and scales
- KeyEverything in D
- ScaleD major
- ChordBm7
Related
- KeyKey of D
- ScaleD major
- ChordBm7 — Minor seventh
- ChordDadd9 — Added ninth
- ChordDm6 — Minor sixth
- ChordD11 — Dominant eleventh
- DegreesD — degree map
- Neck mapD — note map