How to Play D Minor on Your Guitar

Last Updated: October 23, 2019 References Tested

A D minor chord is mostly used in metal songs and finds great use in bringing that negative feeling to a song.Learn to play it on your guitar with a few simple steps.

Method 1

Method 1 of 2:

Standard Finger Positioning

1
Observe the correct finger positions.^{[1]
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2
Make sure your guitar is in the standard tuning.^{[2]
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3
Put your index finger on the 1st string, 1st fret
4
Press the 3rd string second fret with your middle finger.^{[3]
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5
Put your ring finger on the 2nd string 3rd fret.^{[4]
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6
Play the chord.
7
Check the proper fretting for each string:^{[5]
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- E string - 1st fret
- B string - 3rd fret
- G string - 2nd fret
- D string - open
- A string - not played
- E string - not played

Method 2

Method 2 of 2:

Barred Chord

1
Bar the fifth fret with your index finger
2
Press the 2nd string with your middle finger on the 6th fret.
3
Press the 3rd string with your ring finger on the 7th fret and the fourth string with your little finger on the 7th fret too.
4
Now play the chord and voila, you've successfully played a d minor chord.^{[6]
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5
Check the proper fretting for each string:^{[7]
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- E string - 5th fret
- B string - 6th fret
- G string - 7th fret
- D string - 7th fret
- A string - 5th fret
- E string - |5th fret

Community Q&A

Question

Trying to play an old-time D-minor tune (Home With the Girls in the Morning) capoed on the second fret using the "C" chord shape. What would be the shapes of the D minor chord progression?

Daniel Gonçalves

Community Answer

For this, I advise you to learn the barre chord shapes: these are chords that can be done by putting the index finger over a fret, and the remaining fingers 2 frets above. That said, to find the D minor chord, go over to the 10th fret and bar with index finger all the strings. Then use the pinkie and the ring finger and put them over the 12th fret 5th and 4th string respectively. Voila, a D minor chord with a capo on your guitar.