Chords in D major

D · Em · F♯m · G · A · Bm · C♯°

The course explains what this page shows in Lesson 11 · The chords of a key.

The chords in D major

  1. IDDmaj7
  2. iiEmEm7
  3. iiiF♯mF♯m7
  4. IVGGmaj7
  5. VAA7
  6. viBmBm7
  7. vii°C♯°C♯m7♭5

The chords of D major are D, Em, F♯m, G, A, Bm and C♯°. With a seventh added they become Dmaj7, Em7, F♯m7, Gmaj7, A7, Bm7 and C♯m7♭5.

If you stack every other note of D major, starting from each degree in turn, these are the chords you get. Nobody chose them: each one is built from the scale's own notes, arranged in thirds.

Every chord, where it lives

IDiiEmiiiF♯mIVGVAviBmvii°C♯°
Open1351313
Fret 22fr1♭352fr15132fr1♭351
Fret 44fr1♭354fr151♭3
Fret 55fr13515fr135
Fret 66fr1♭51♭3
Fret 77fr15137fr1♭3517fr135
Fret 99fr151♭39fr1♭3519fr1♭35
Fret 1010fr1351
Fret 1111fr151♭3

The grid places seven chords across nine home frets on ukulele.

Read down a column to find one chord all over the neck. Each shape appears once, in the row for the fret it starts on. No single position puts every chord of this key within reach, so no rows are marked in the margin.

Shapes for each chord

D I
135fr13515fr1357fr1513
Em ii
7fr1♭3512fr1♭357fr1♭357fr1♭35♭3
F♯m iii
9fr1♭3514fr1♭359fr1♭359fr1♭35♭3
G IV
5135fr13510fr135110fr135
A V
13132fr15137fr135
Bm vi
2fr1♭3512fr1♭352fr1♭35♭34fr151♭3
C♯° vii°
6fr1♭51♭3

These are the most playable shapes for each chord, starting from the lowest position. Every shape fits within the reach of one hand, so none of them needs a finger you do not have.

Progressions in D major

Three chord
  1. ID
  2. IVG
  3. VA
DIGIVAVDDC♯F♯GEABA−1+1−3+2−2

One of the six lines between these chords is flat: that note belongs to both chords, so it stays where it is. No voice moves more than three semitones.

Every one of these chords comes from D major.

Axis
  1. ID
  2. VA
  3. viBm
  4. IVG
DIAVBmviGIVDC♯DDF♯EF♯GAABB−1+1−2+2+1+2

Three of the nine lines between these chords are flat: those notes belong to both chords, so they stay where they are. No voice moves more than two semitones.

Every one of these chords comes from D major.

Doo-wop
  1. ID
  2. viBm
  3. IVG
  4. VA
DIBmviGIVAVDDDC♯F♯F♯GEABBA−1+1−3+2−2

Four of the nine lines between these chords are flat: those notes belong to both chords, so they stay where they are. No voice moves more than three semitones.

Every one of these chords comes from D major.

ii–V–I
  1. ii7Em7
  2. V7A7
  3. Imaj7Dmaj7
Em7ii7A7V7Dmaj7Imaj7DC♯C♯EEDGGF♯BAA−1−2−1−2

Four of the eight lines between these chords are flat: those notes belong to both chords, so they stay where they are. No voice moves more than two semitones.

These are the third and the seventh of each chord on their own. Together they decide whether a chord is major, minor or dominant, which is why they are called guide tones. If you play only these two notes, you can still hear the chords change. If you play only the root and the fifth, you cannot. Two of the four lines between these chords are flat: those notes belong to both chords, so they stay where they are. No voice moves more than one semitone.

Em7ii7A7V7Dmaj7Imaj7DC♯C♯GGF♯−1−1

Every one of these chords comes from D major.

Rhythm changes
  1. Imaj7Dmaj7
  2. vi7Bm7
  3. ii7Em7
  4. V7A7
Dmaj7Imaj7Bm7vi7Em7ii7A7V7C♯BBADDDC♯F♯F♯EEAAGG−2−2−1−2−2

Seven of the twelve lines between these chords are flat: those notes belong to both chords, so they stay where they are. No voice moves more than two semitones.

This diagram again follows only the guide tones, the third and seventh of each chord. Two of the six lines between these chords are flat: those notes belong to both chords, so they stay where they are. No voice moves more than three semitones.

Dmaj7Imaj7Bm7vi7Em7ii7A7V7C♯DDC♯F♯AGG+1−1+3−2

Every one of these chords comes from D major.

Twelve-bar blues
  1. I7D7
  2. I7D7
  3. I7D7
  4. I7D7
  5. IV7G7
  6. IV7G7
  7. I7D7
  8. I7D7
  9. V7A7
  10. IV7G7
  11. I7D7
  12. V7A7
D7I7G7IV7D7I7A7V7G7IV7D7I7A7V7CBCC♯BCC♯DDDEDDEF♯FF♯GFF♯GAGAAGAA−1+1+1−2+1+1+2−2+2−1+1+1−2+1+1−2+2−2+2

Five of the 24 lines between these chords are flat: those notes belong to both chords, so they stay where they are. No voice moves more than two semitones. The progression lasts twelve bars, but a repeated chord is not a change, so the ladder shows only the six places where the harmony moves.

This diagram again follows only the guide tones, the third and seventh of each chord. None of the twelve lines between these chords is flat, so every voice moves at every change. No voice moves more than two semitones. The progression lasts twelve bars, but a repeated chord is not a change, so the ladder shows only the six places where the harmony moves.

D7I7G7IV7D7I7A7V7G7IV7D7I7A7V7CBCC♯BCC♯F♯FF♯GFF♯G−1+1+1−2+1+1−1+1+1−2+1+1

Two of these chords go outside D major, borrowing C and F (D7, G7). No single key contains all of them. Every one is a dominant seventh, and a dominant seventh pulls towards the chord whose root is a fifth below its own, one step anticlockwise on the circle (D7 → G, G7 → C, A7 → D). A chord drawn dashed, here and on the circle, goes outside the key.

There are six progressions in D major, including Three chord (D G A) and Axis (D A Bm G).

Each row is one progression. It is written first in roman numerals, which name each chord by the degree of the scale it is built on, and then as the chords those numerals stand for in this key. A dashed outline means the chord borrows a note that D major does not contain. Under each progression, a diagram follows every note from one chord to the next. A flat line is a note that stays where it is, and a sloped line is labelled with the number of semitones the note moves.

D major on the circle of fifths

—1♯2♯3♯4♯5♯6♯5♭4♭3♭2♭1♭CAmGIVEmiiDIBmviAVF♯miiiEC♯mBG♯mF♯D♯mC♯°vii°B♭mA♭FmE♭CmB♭GmFDmD Major2♯

Each step clockwise around the wheel moves up a perfect fifth and adds a sharp to the key signature, or takes a flat away. The small numbers around the rim show each key's signature. D major has two sharps in its key signature.

Why the chords land where they do

The two rings work in pairs. Each minor key on the inner ring is the relative minor of the major key just outside it: the two are built from the same seven notes and share a key signature. C major and A minor are one such pair.

This pairing is why a key's chords gather in one place. Its three major chords, D, G and A (the I, IV and V), sit next to each other on the outer ring, each a fifth from its neighbour. Its three minor chords, Em, F♯m and Bm (the ii, iii and vi), are the relative minors of those same three, so they sit directly beneath them. Together, six of the seven chords form a block three wedges wide.

The remaining chord, C♯° (the vii°), is diminished. It sits four steps away from the block and is outlined on its own. Every major key, and every mode of the major scale, has exactly one diminished chord, and it is always the one that sits apart.

In this way the wheel works as a map of harmonic distance. Chords inside the block sound as though they belong to one key, and the further a chord sits from the block, the more it sounds like a departure. That is why progressions such as I–IV–V and ii–V–I move between neighbours rather than leaping across the wheel.

One step, on the neck

On the guitar, a perfect fifth is a shape you already know: the power chord. Play a root, then the note two frets higher on the next string up. Here it starts on D.

GCEA78910111213DAE

Now think of it as a chain. The A you are already fretting is the fifth of D, and it is also the root of the next chord clockwise. Play the same shape starting from A and you reach E. D → A → E is two steps around the wheel, and the same movement repeated up the neck.

The pair C–E is a major third apart, so the fifth of A lands three frets higher. The pair G–C is a fourth apart, so that step uses the usual two-fret shape. To work out any pair, count the semitones between the two strings and subtract that from seven. A fourth gives two frets, a fifth gives none, and a major third gives three.

D major has two sharps in its key signature. Six of its seven chords form one block on the circle of fifths.

Six of D major's seven chords sit together in one block on the wheel. The seventh, C♯°, sits apart.