Major key
D flat major
Its seven chords: D♭, E♭m, Fm, G♭, A♭, B♭m, Cdim.
- D♭1
- E♭2
- F3
- G♭4
- A♭5
- B♭6
- C7
- I–V–vi–IV
- D♭
- A♭
- B♭m
- G♭
- ii7–V7–Imaj7
- E♭m7
- A♭7
- D♭maj7
- I–IV–V
- D♭
- G♭
- A♭
- vi–IV–I–V
- B♭m
- G♭
- D♭
- A♭
- I–vi–IV–V
- D♭
- B♭m
- G♭
- A♭
- I–V–vi–iii–IV–I–IV–V
- D♭
- A♭
- B♭m
- Fm
- G♭
- D♭
- G♭
- A♭
About D flat major
The scale of D flat major runs D♭ – E♭ – F – G♭ – A♭ – B♭ – C, and the key has 5♭ in the signature (B♭, E♭, A♭, D♭, G♭). Those seven notes are the raw material of everything on this page: each chord below is stacked from them alone, which is why the chords of D flat major fit together so naturally.
Most music in D flat major leans on three chords: D♭ (home), G♭ (moving away) and A♭ (tension that wants to come home). Add the three minor chords of the key and you have six chords that cover almost every simple song; the seventh, Cdim, is used as a passing chord.
D flat major shares every note with B flat minor, its relative key, so the two have the same signature and the same seven chords. If the chords of a piece fit both lists, listen for the chord it starts and ends on to decide which key you are in. Not to be confused with C sharp minor, the parallel key on the same home note.
Its closest neighbours are A flat major, one fifth higher, and F sharp major, one fifth lower. Each differs from D flat major by a single note, which is why a short trip to one of them, a modulation, sounds so smooth. The dominant seventh of the key is A♭7.
Barre chords make D flat major harder on guitar, but a capo on fret 1 turns the chords into the easy shapes C, Dm, Em, F, G, Am, which is how many guitarists play in this key.
A good way to learn D flat major: play the chords up the scale, then pick two progressions from this page and loop them for a few minutes with a metronome, first at 60 BPM, then faster.