Estimated reading time 3 minutes
Table of Contents
Introduction
Do you want to know how to play the open D minor guitar chord? Do you want to know why it sounds sad? Minor chords have a sweet, haunting sound. Open D minor has medium difficulty, but with the right fingering strategies, it’s not that hard to play. Keep reading How to Play the Sad Sounding D Minor Chord to find out how to best play open D minor.
This article uses musical terms. For definitions, see the Glossary at the end of the post.
How to Play the D Minor Guitar Chord #1: Guitar Fingering
Hand Icon (churien.deviantart.com/art/hand-template-blank-272630198) by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0). Modified by Geoffrey Keith.
The hand diagram above shows you the finger numbers, which you’ll use as a guide for fingering the chords in the next section.
How to Play the D Minor Guitar Chord #2: Learning the Harmonies for the Song
Most people hear minor chords and scales as being sad. For more information:
Here are the chords:
Today, we’re going to look at how common fingers (i.e., fingers/notes that stay the same between harmonies) help you transition between chords. For example:
- Switching between F and Dm is easy. Start with F then transition to Dm. Keep all your fingers down except for the ring finger (#3), which you’ll move from the fourth string third fret in F to the second string third fret in Dm.
- Likewise, when switching from Dm to the easier (i.e., not barred) version of Bb, hold down the F note on the first string first fret with your pointer finger (#1) as you transition to Bb.
- In addition, you have a common finger on the first string first fret in both F and G7 (which we’ll be substituting for the G major chord). Also, notice how similar the C, F, and G7 fingering is. When transitioning between C, F, and G7, the 2 and 3 fingers will hop back and forth on the fatter strings.
Try not to lift the common fingers as you switch chords:
- The less finger movement you have, the smoother you can make the transitions.
- In other words, only move the fingers that need to switch frets or strings
- Don’t move the fingers that remain in the same place on the neck.
Beginner guitarists: start with the simpler versions before you try the full versions of the chords. For more information:
How to Play the D Minor Guitar Chord #3: Let’s Learn a Song That Uses Dm
Now you’re going to use open D minor in a classic rock n’ roll song:
- Earth Angle was a huge rock n’ roll hit, reaching the top of the Billboard charts in 1955.
- You may already know the song from the movie Back to the Future where the character Marty McFly (a time traveler from 1985 to 1955) must play the song for his parents at the dance where they met in 1955, or he’ll cease to exist.
- Talk about performance pressure!
To learn the song, click on this lead sheet link:
- The song uses: F Dm Bb C G
- For easier versions of the chords, substitute F and Bb from this article for the versions used in the lead sheet.
- For an easier transition from F to G and from G to C, substitute G7 for the G major chord. The two most common fingerings for G major make the switch here more difficult than G7 will. Therefore, you’ll use G7 to ease into playing G major.
- When you’ve got the simpler chord versions down, you can try the harder versions from the lead sheet.
- Be sure to pay attention to the common fingers, because this’ll help you make smoother transitions.
Don’t know how the song sounds? You can go to YouTube and search for it.
Final Thoughts
Takeaway points:
- Common fingers help you transition between chords.
- Start with the simpler versions before you try the full versions of each chord.
- To find out why minor sounds sad: click here.
Have fun playing!
Related Posts
- How to Play the Beautiful E Minor Triad
- How to Play the Frustrating B Minor Triad
- D’you Want Some Music Tips and Tricks I’ve Learned Over the Years?
© 2025 Geoffrey Keith
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