D Minor Piano Chord Progressions

The key of d minor is one of my favorite keys to play in on the piano. It’s a relatively simple key, given that it only has one flat, Bflat, and it’s an easy scale to play.

In this article, I will break down all the chords, scales, and progressions in the key of d minor in the most simple for you to understand.

Note: In music theory, you will always use lowercase for minor and uppercase Major when listing chords.

If you’re looking for popular d minor chord progressions, the notes of d minor, the scale of d minor, and proper fingering for the scale, you’ve come to the right place.

If you are in search of a new digital piano, check out some of digital pianos for beginners we recommend.

Notes Of Natural d minor Scale

The notes are as follows: D E F G A Bflat D. As you can see, you simply start on D and walk your way up the white notes, playing one black note, which is Bflat.

This is one of the more accessible scales to play, as you aren’t dealing with many crazy finger patterns or flats.

Later in this article I will break down exactly how to play the d minor piano scale in terms of fingering. Let’s take a look at chords in d minor first.

For d minor chords, we have the following: minor, diminished, Major, Major, minor, minor, Major. All minor keys will follow the same pattern as above. 

Note: when you see flat5 or sharp5, that means going down half a step or up half a step. For flats, you go down half a step, and for sharps, you go up half a step.

If you see dominant 7, you simply flat the seven or go down half a step on the 7 of the chord. If you have C Major Dom7, that would be: C E G Bflat.

• i – d minor, d minor 7: D F A, D F E C
• iidim – d diminished, e diminished 7 flat 5: E G Bflat, E G Bflat D
• III – F Major, F Major 7: F A C, F A C E
• iv – g minor, g minor 7: G Bflat D, G Bflat, D F
• v – a minor, a minor 7: A C E, A C E G
• VI – Bflat Major, Bflat Major 7: Bflat D F, Bflat D F A
• VII – C Major, Cmajor Dom 7: C E G, C E G Bflat

The D Minor Piano Chord Chart

The notes will look like this for the key of d minor. If you want to learn more about beginner piano chords, check out this post.

Chord Progressions In d Natural minor

Looking to improvise in the key of d minor? Here are some fantastic d minor chord progressions I often use:

• i, VII, VI, III (d minor, C Major, Bflat Major, F Major
• i, iv, VII, VI (d minor, g minor, C Major, Bflat Major
• i, III, VII, VI (d minor, F Major, C Major, Bflat Major,
• i, VI, III, VII (d minor, Bflat Major, F Major, C Major

There are far more chord progressions in d minor, but these should get you out of the gates and allow you to create your songs.

The beauty of playing d minor chord progressions is that most of these chords are fairly simple to play. I recommend experimenting and adding in the 7s as well.

Conclusion

This guide on the key of D minor gave you a good look into some good chords in d minor to use and a better idea overall. If you enjoyed this, let me know in the comment section below.