D — D major chord
Root, major third and perfect fifth. The default three-note chord.
- 1 = D
- 3 = F#
- 5 = A
- Symbol
- D
- Root
- D
- Quality
- Major
- Family
- triad
- Notes
- D F# A
- Degree formula
1 3 5- Semitones from the root
0 4 7- Distinct pitch classes
- 3
- Interval structure
- Stacked from the root: 4 semitones, 3 semitones
- Notation
- Written as the bare letter name, for example C.
- 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 |
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 | 0 4 7 |
| first inversion | F# | 3 | F# – A – D | 0 3 8 |
| second inversion | A | 5 | A – D – F# | 0 5 9 |
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 | 10-12-12-11-10-10 | D A D F# A D | 1 5 1 3 5 1 | D | 2 | 6 |
| 2 | 10-9-7-7-7-10 | D F# A D F# D | 1 3 5 1 3 1 | D | 3 | 6 |
| 3 | 10-9-7-7-10-10 | D F# A D A D | 1 3 5 1 5 1 | D | 3 | 6 |
| 4 | 10-9-12-11-10-10 | D F# D F# A D | 1 3 1 3 5 1 | D | 3 | 6 |
| 5 | 10-9-7-11-7-10 | D F# A F# F# D | 1 3 5 3 3 1 | D | 4 | 6 |
| 6 | 10-9-7-11-10-10 | D F# A F# A D | 1 3 5 3 5 1 | D | 4 | 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
Related
- KeyKey of D
- ScaleD major
- ChordDm — Minor
- ChordDmaj7 — Major seventh
- ChordD6 — Sixth
- ChordDsus4 — Suspended fourth
- ChordBm — Minor
- ChordDaug — Augmented