D Major - How to build and play the D Major Triad
D Major. A beautiful key that you will certainly encounter more often in your pianist life.
With only two sharps, this key is one of the easier keys. That is, those that many find particularly pleasant to play. Good conditions, therefore, to learn and get started quickly.
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Gordon November
Gordon November
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I’m here to help you play D major triads on your piano right away. With my help, you can expand your chord portfolio in no time. So, let’s get to work. It’s worth it.
After you have worked through this article, you can:
- play the D major scale.
- unpack the smoothest fingering for the D major scale.
- play D major chords with ease.
- immediately recognize and play all associated inversions.
Tip: Try out your new knowledge of D major directly on your keyboard instrument. Try to free yourself from sheet music – and play the D major triad quite intuitively. This will give you a feel for the key and the associated notes much faster.
D Major Scale
The D major scale consists of 8 notes. Six of them are white keys and two are black keys. Great. That’s not complicated. You can easily incorporate two black keys when playing the scale.
The black keys you need in D major are F sharp and C sharp.
Here is the D major scale in sheet music.
Overall, you need the following notes in D major:
D – E – F sharp – G – A – B – C sharp – D
Just play the scale as you would instinctively play it. Only then read on. Perhaps you are already intuitively using the correct fingers when playing the D major scale.
The D Major Scale Fingering
Okay, now it’s time to play. So, get to the piano and let’s go.
First, place the thumb of your right hand on D (that’s the note between the two black keys). Then play the E with your index finger. The F sharp with your middle finger. And then? Pay attention. Now slide your thumb under your middle finger and place it on the G. The rest is a homerun. You play all the other notes with the fingers you have left. Don’t forget: There is one more black key: the C sharp, which you play with your ring finger.
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D F sharp A - This is what the D Major Triad looks like
Root Position D Major Chord
Now we come to my favorite part: The D Major Triad. It just sounds so beautiful. Play it right away. To do this, place your thumb on the D, your middle finger on the F sharp. And the little finger on the A. If you can’t find the keys on your piano like that, don’t worry. Below on the drawing you can see the keys drawn on the keyboard.
D – F sharp – A
First Inversion D Major Chord
That was the D major root position. Easy, right? Then we can continue directly with the first inversion. To do this, add the lowest note to the top of the chord. So the D moves over the F sharp and the A.
You get a chord made of F sharp – A – D. It is played with the thumb, index finger and little finger.
Second Inversion D Major Chord
And now the second inversion of this major triad. As before, we simply attach the lowest note of the first inversion to the top. So the F sharp is now above A and D.
You play A – D – F sharp with thumb, middle finger and little finger.
By the way: The parallel minor key of D major is B minor. Learn more about the difference between major and minor here.
You now master the D Major Triad
Congratulations. Now you can play the D major scale and the D major chords on your instrument.
Play Piano by Intuition
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