Julie Swihart

Major Key Chords

Let’s find all the chords that belong to the key of D major. Once you know the chords for a particular key, you can use those chords to create chord progressions and play creatively in that key!

How to Find Chords for D Major

To find the chords for the key of D major, we first need to build a D major scale (learn how to build a D major scale here).

The notes for a D major scale are:

D – E – F♯ – G – A – B – C♯ – D

Now we can build a chord off each note of the D major scale, using only the notes of the scale to build the chords.

Starting on D, we’ll count “1 – 3 – 5” and build our first chord, using the notes of the D major scale. When we do this, we get: D – F♯ – A

Then we’ll start on E, and count “1 – 3 – 5” using the notes of the scale to build our next chord. When we do this, we get: E – G – B

Next, we’ll start on F♯, and using the notes of the scale to build our chord, we’ll count “1 – 3 – 5”. When we do this, we get: F♯ – A – C♯

We can continue following this pattern, using the notes of the scale to build a “1 – 3 – 5” chord off each note of the scale.

Chords for Major Keys Printable

This 20-page PDF will help you learn the chords for every major key! Use these chords to build chord progressions and play creatively.

Get the Printable

Chords for the Key of D Major

Here are the chords for the key of D major:

D – F♯ – A = D major chord

E – G – B = E minor chord

F♯ – A – C♯ = F♯ minor chord

G – B – D = G major chord

A – C♯ – E = A major chord

B – D – F♯ = B minor chord

C♯ – E – G = C♯ diminished chord

Other Major Key Chords

You can find chords for the other major keys below:

C Major Chords
G Major Chords
A Major Chords
E Major Chords
B Major Chords
F Sharp Major Chords
C Sharp Major Chords
F Major Chords
B Flat Major Chords
E Flat Major Chords
A Flat Major Chords
D Flat Major Chords
G Flat Major Chords
C Flat Major Chords

How to Label the Chords

You may have noticed the chords we built were either major, minor or diminished, and you may be wondering how we know the difference. It all depends on the intervals used to build the chords (you can learn all about piano intervals here).

To summarize it, there are actually four types of “1 – 3 – 5” chords, or “triads”:

Major
Minor
Augmented
Diminished

A major chord is built using the first, third and fifth notes of the matching major scale.

A minor chord is a major chord with the middle note lowered 1/2 step.

An augmented chord is a major chord with the upper-note raised 1/2 step.

A diminished chord is a minor chord with the upper-note lowered 1/2 step.

When we build a chord off each note of any major scale, using only the notes of the scale to build the chords, we will always get these types of chords in this order:

Major
Minor
Minor
Major
Major
Minor
Diminished

Isn’t that neat? Now you can use this pattern to find the chords belonging to other major keys on the piano!

Primary Chords for the Key of D Major

Each major key has three “primary” chords. These three chords are used often when playing songs in that key. Primary chords are built off the first, fourth and fifth notes of the scale.

So for the key of D major, the three primary chords are:

D major
G major
A major

Primary chords will show up often in chord progressions (learn more about chord progressions here).

Conclusion

Now you know how to find the chords for the key of D major, and you can use that knowledge to find the chords for any major key on the piano! Enjoy the music!