Fifth Chords
Let’s look at how to play a D flat 5 chord on the piano. We’ll also learn the pattern for building any other fifth chord.
What Are Fifth Chords?
Fifth chords aren’t really chords, since the definition of a “chord” is “three or more notes sounded together”. But we’ll call them chords anyway since they’re treated like chords at the piano.
To play a fifth chord, play the first and fifth notes of the matching major scale.
You can learn how to build a major scale here.
Another way to think of fifth chords is to play the lowest and highest notes of the matching major chord, leaving out the middle note (the third).
Chord Types Printable
Learn to play 17 types of piano chords using 12 different root notes with this 35-page PDF! Chords are sorted both by their root note and type.
How to Play a D Flat 5 Chord
So to play a D flat 5 chord on the piano, we’ll play the first and fifth notes of the D flat major scale: D♭ – A♭
These are also the lowest and highest notes of a D flat major chord.
D♭ – A♭
We can use this pattern to build any other fifth chord. We can play the first and fifth notes of the matching major scale.
Other Chord Types
Some of the other chord types we can learn are:
Major
Minor
Augmented
Diminished
Second
Minor Second
Suspended
Sixth
Minor Sixth
Seventh
Minor Seventh
Major Seventh
Ninth
Minor Ninth
Major Ninth
Conclusion
Now you know how to play a D flat 5 chord on the piano, and you can use this knowledge to build any other fifth chord!
Fifth chords create more of an open-ended sound, which gives you more options when playing creatively at the piano. I hope you enjoy using fifth chords!
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