D Major Scale on Piano & Guitar + Chords in the Key of D Major
💪 Here's a strong
D major
scale
reference which shows the notes, finger position on the piano keyboard,
intervals, scale degrees,
diatonic chords and
common chord progressions in
D major.
🎸 You'll also find the
D major scale on the guitar fretboard.
The D major scale is a diatonic scale consisting of the pitches D, E, F♯, G, A, B and C♯. Its relative minor is B minor.
The D major scale has a key signature of 2 sharps: F♯ and C♯.
The key of D major is closely related to the key of G major and the key of A major.
→ go to all major & minor scales
The notes of the D major scale are
D,
E,
F♯,
G,
A,
B
and
C♯
The relative minor of the D major
scale is
B
minor
D major scale piano layout & finger position
Here's a piano keyboard showing the notes of the D major scale, followed by a visual for the finger position on the piano. Hit play to hear the notes of the D major scale up and down:
- D
- E
- F♯
- G
- A
- B
- C♯
- D
B
C♯
D
G
A
B
left hand
right hand
D Major Scale on Guitar
🎸 Here you'll find a guitar fretboard representation with the notes of the D major scale , using standard guitar tuning: E A D G B E. You can show all notes, only the root notes, the intervals or the scale degrees:
You can also highlight specific scale positions on the guitar fretboard for the D major scale, using the CAGED system or the Three Notes Per String system (TNPS):
Chords in the key of D major
(D major diatonic
chords)
The diatonic chords in the key of D major are: D major, E minor, F♯ minor, G major, A major, B minor and C♯ diminished
Tap or use numbers 1 through 7 to trigger the chords. You can also tap to trigger the chord inversions or the 7th chords. This tool can be used as a chord progression generator.
last chords played
Common chord progressions in the key of D major
Here's list of popular major key chord progressions along with the specific chords they represent in the key of D major. Again, you can use numbers 1 through 7 on your keyboard to trigger the different chords:
Toggle D major scale intervals & scale degrees
| degrees | notes | intervals |
|---|---|---|
| 1: Tonic | D | Unison |
| 2: Supertonic | E | Major 2nd |
| 3: Mediant | F♯ | Major 3rd |
| 4: Subdominant | G | Perfect 4th |
| 5: Dominant | A | Perfect 5th |
| 6: Submediant | B | Major 6th |
| 7: Leading Tone | C♯ | Major 7th |
| 1: Octave/Tonic | D | Perfect 8th |
Popular Songs in the Key of D Major
- Twist and Shout by The Beatles
- Hotel California by The Eagles
- Harvest Moon by Neil Young
- Wake Me Up by Avicii
- Money by Pink Floyd
- One More Time by Daft Punk
- Everybody Hurts by R.E.M.
- Where the Streets Have No Name by U2
- Loser by Beck
- Jeremy by Pearl Jam
- Lithium by Nirvana
- Under Pressure by Queen
- Higher by Creed
Major scale formula
🔧 The major scales are constructed using this note pattern:
- W-W-H-W-W-W-H
W = Whole step H = Half step
go to a different major or minor scale:
C majorC♯ majorD♭ majorE♭ majorE majorF majorF♯ majorG♭ majorG majorA♭ majorA majorB♭ majorB majorC♭ major
C minor C♯ minor D♭ minorD minorD♯ minorE♭ minorE minorF minorF♯ minorG minorG♯ minorA♭ minorA minorA♯ minorB♭ minorB minor
