Julie Swihart

Major Chords

Let’s take a look at how to play a D major chord on the piano. We’ll also learn the pattern for building any major chord.

How to Build Major Chords

Major chords are built using the first, third and fifth notes of the matching major scale.

You can learn how to build a major scale here.

This post explains major chords in more detail, if you’d like the full explanation.

Chord Types Printable

Learn to play 17 types of piano chords using 12 different root notes with this 34-page PDF! Chords are sorted both by their root note (C, D, E, etc.) and type (major, minor, etc.).

Get the Printable

How to Play a D Major Chord

Let’s build a D major chord on the piano. To build the chord, we’ll play the first, third and fifth notes of the D major scale: D – F♯ – A.

D – F♯ – A

You can build any major chord using this pattern. Just play the first, third and fifth notes of the matching major scale.

The patterns on the piano can be replicated again and again to find new chords. We don’t have to memorize the notes for each chord if we can memorize the pattern for building the chord type!

Other Chord Types

There are many other chord types you can learn. Here are some others:

Minor
Augmented
Diminished
Second
Minor Second
Suspended
Fifth
Sixth
Minor Sixth
Seventh
Minor Seventh
Major Seventh
Ninth
Minor Ninth
Major Ninth

Conclusion

Now you know how to build a D major chord on the piano, and you can use that knowledge to build any other major chord.

Piano chords are a wonderful way to learn the piano, because understanding chords helps you understand the piano as an instrument, seeing the patterns and relationships between the notes. Chords also offer lots of room for creativity (try using inversions)!