So You Want To Play a D Minor Chord Guitar?
The D minor is the sadder, more droopy brother of the D chord! D minor isn’t very difficult to play, but then again it’s not the most commonly used chord. I would still classify this as a beginner guitar chord, and you really should be learning this chord! The notes of a D minor chord are D, F and A
I’m glad you’re here, let’s get to the D minor chord guitar tutorial!
The Shape of the D Minor Guitar Chord
D minor is a D chord with a diminished third, so instead of D, G#, A, you play D, F, A. So that’s why this looks like a D chord but with just one of the fingers shifted down a half-step.
D minor is thought to be a very eerie and sad chord and key. Bach’s 2nd cello suite is in the key of D minor and it’s sometimes played at memorials, for example, the 9/11 memorial, but well moving on from that not-so-fun fact. This is how the chord sounds:
Tip 1, Proper Finger Placement
- Middle finger on the 2nd fret of the G string
- Pinky or Ring finger on the 3rd fret of the B string
- Index finger on the 1st fret of the little E string
Tip 2, Pinky or Middle?
There is an age-old debate about the d minor chord, whether tis nobler to sacrifice the pinky or ring finger upon the third fret of the B string. I was personally taught to use the pinky finger instead of the ring finger, but there are a lot of guitar players who. do either. So this is not a really big deal whichever one you use.
Beginners
However, I will point out that the pinky finger does not get often used by a beginner. So if you are a beginner, I recommend the pinky finger. As a way to start developing finger strength and some callouses for when you later use it to make lots of chord types.
Chord Variations
The second advantage of the pinky fingering is that when you start messing around with chord shapes you can easier say add the ring finger to the third fret of the D string or move the pinky over to the third fret of the little E string easier than if you use the index fingering.
Tip 3, Chord Changes to D and G and A
The most common chord changes you are going to encounter when using D minor, are probably switching to the G or A chords, and their respective minors. So practice each of these for one minute, slowly and carefully changing chords. I would also try switching from D minor to D major as it’s a little tricky!
Tip 4, Practice theD Minor Chord Guitar
This chord was quite hard for me to get at first, but I just kept practicing it and eventually it became second nature. Now you may be thinking, why the heck would I want to practice the D minor guitar chord? Only you can really answer that question, but I’ll give the reason why I practiced it:
Hotel California by the Eagles! Absolutely great song to play, and it features the D minor!
Takeaway
Well, I hope you learned how to play the D Minor Chord for Guitar, or at least learned what it sounded and looks like! I hope you play Hotel California sometime soon, I really like the song! Until next time!
Dave N. Bennett
Hi, I'm Dave. I've been playing instruments since I was just a little kid. I've worked at Guitar Center and tried producing nearly every genre of music. I've graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music, and now I perform locally and write and practice music. I also run this blog where I share interesting things I've learned. I hope you Enjoy my posts!
