D Minor
m
0 - 3 - 7Root + minor 3rd + perfect 5th
About D Minor
D minor is three fingers in first position and, according to a joke old enough to have outlived its source, the saddest of all keys. The notes are D, F and A; the shape is a small triangle on the top three strings, and the two lowest strings are left out.
The notes
D, F, A — root, minor third, perfect fifth. Only four strings are played: the open D provides the root, and the F on the high E string at the first fret is the note that makes the chord minor. Move that F up one fret to F♯ and you have D major.
The chord uses no flats and no sharps, which puts it in the same accidental-free family as C major and A minor. That is why the three of them appear together so often — a song can move among them without a single fretted note outside first position.
The shape and its variants
The standard fingering is a compact triangle, easy to hold but easy to mute accidentally: the ring finger has to arch clear of the high E string. Most buzzing on this chord comes from that one finger.
Lift the middle finger and D minor becomes Dm7, which is the more common form in jazz and bossa. Add the little finger at the third fret of the high E and it becomes Dm add9 — a favourite in fingerstyle, because the extra note rings against the open D.
Where it shows up
As the ii of C major, the vi of F and the iii of B♭. The ii role is the most frequent: Dm–G7–C is the ii–V–I of the simplest key in music, and it is where most players first hear the pull that makes jazz harmony work.
In folk and rock D minor is usually the tonic, sitting alongside C, B♭ and A — a set that fits the hand well and gives the modal, unresolved sound heard in a great deal of traditional music.