D♭ major chord
Home in D♭ major, and the V that pulls toward G♭.
- How it sounds
- Bright and settled. D♭ to F is four frets, and that gap gives it its warmth, while A♭ on top holds it steady. There’s no open grip. The lowest of its five grips is the C form, at the 1st fret.
- Where it lives
- The I of D♭ major, the IV of A♭ major and the V of F♯ major. In D♭ major it’s home; in F♯ major it pulls the song back to F♯. In F♯ harmonic minor it’s the V, and its third, E♯, is the raised seventh that leads back to F♯. In F♯ major and F♯ harmonic minor the same chord is written C♯. Gospel, soul and jazz, where flat keys suit the keyboards and horns. Guitarists often play it as a C shape with a capo at the 1st fret.
Voicings across the neck
D♭, F and A♭ can be played in five places on the neck, each built from a different open chord shape. Neighbouring forms share a root, so each one hands over to the next, and together they run from the 1st to the 14th fret before the cycle starts again. The E form at the 9th fret is the fullest barre, all six strings. The D form at the 11th uses only the top four, which keeps it small and bright and easy to hear over a band.
- High E string: F at fret 1
- B string: D♭ at fret 2
- G string: A♭ at fret 1
- D string: F at fret 3
- A string: D♭ at fret 4
- Low E string: not played
- High E string: A♭ at fret 4
- B string: F at fret 6
- G string: D♭ at fret 6
- D string: A♭ at fret 6
- A string: D♭ at fret 4
- Low E string: not played
- High E string: D♭ at fret 9
- B string: F at fret 6
- G string: D♭ at fret 6
- D string: A♭ at fret 6
- A string: F at fret 8
- Low E string: D♭ at fret 9
- High E string: D♭ at fret 9
- B string: A♭ at fret 9
- G string: F at fret 10
- D string: D♭ at fret 11
- A string: A♭ at fret 11
- Low E string: D♭ at fret 9
- High E string: F at fret 13
- B string: D♭ at fret 14
- G string: A♭ at fret 13
- D string: D♭ at fret 11
- A string: not played
- Low E string: not played
Formula
| Intervals | Notes | Semitones |
|---|---|---|
| R · M3 · P5: what each interval does in a chord | D♭ · F · A♭ | 4 + 3 |
D♭ major is a root, a major third and a perfect fifth: D♭, F and A♭, taken from the D♭ major scale by skipping every other note. Four then three is what makes a chord major. Turn the gaps round, three then four, and you get D♭ minor: D♭, F♭, A♭, the same chord as C♯m.
In these keys and scales
D♭ major turns up in twelve scales on the site, and the job it does depends on the scale. In D♭ major it’s the I, home. In F♯ major and F♯ harmonic minor (written C♯ there) it’s the V, the chord that pulls back home. In B♭ minor it’s the III, the relative major inside the minor key, and as the VI of F minor it’s a warm step away from home. The numeral beside each scale names the job, and the name opens that scale’s page.
| Family | Scales |
|---|---|
| Major | |
| Natural minor | |
| Harmonic minor | |
| Melodic minor | |
| Pentatonic |
Progressions
A lot of progressions in D♭ major start on D♭, and nearly all of them come back to it. In I–IV–V the other two chords keep returning to it. In I–V–vi–IV it opens the loop, and G♭ at the end leads back round to it. V–I turns it the other way: there D♭ is the V, and it resolves to G♭.