Mandolin Chords, D Major

Overview

There are many positions (ways, variants etc.) to play the D major chord on the mandolin.

In this article you can find the most common chord positions – displayed on the slideshow above, fingered for your convenience. To help you understand how to play them, I have included step-by-step instructions, describing where to place each finger and what note this will produce. Finally, the article includes a chord chart with all possible chord positions for future reference, feel free to print it.

What is a D major Chord?

The D consists of:

The root, which for the D chord is of course D
The third, which for the D chord is F#
The fifth, which for the D chord is A

See it below displayed on sheet paper:

If you want to understand more on chords theory, i.e. how they are constructed, check out the following popular article I have written some time ago: Understanding Chords Theory.

Two finger, D major fingered for mandolin

This is how you place your left hand on the fretboard:

First finger on 2nd fret of fourth string.
Second finger on 2nd fret of first string.
Leave Second and Third strings unfretted.

Note that because the first bass note is the fifth (A) and not the root (D) , we call this chord second inversion and we write it D/A, meaning that this is a D chord with the first note being A.

Barre D major, fingered for mandolin

This is how you place your left hand on the fretboard:

First finger on 2nd fret of all strings.
Third finger on 4th fret of third string.
Fourth finger on 5th fret of second string.

Note that because the first bass note is the fifth (A) and not the root (D) , we also call this chord second inversion and we write it D/A, meaning that this is a D chord with the first note being A.

Four finger D major, fingered for mandolin

This is how you place your left hand on the fretboard:

Fourth finger on 7th fret of fourth string.
First finger on 4th fret of third string.
Second finger on 5th fret of second string.
Third finger on 5th fret of first string.

Note that because the first bass note is D i.e the root of the D chord , we call this chord just D, meaning that this is a D with the first note being D.

D major Mandolin Chord Variants

As with all chords, there are many variants of the D chord for the mandolin. I have included nice-looking photorealistic descriptions of the most common ones. Nevertheless, if you want to explore more, see below a Chord Sheet that presents all variants for you to practice.

How to Practice chords on the mandolin

There are many good articles here at theMandolinTuner for practicing chords. I suggest you start with:

Call to action

Ok, it is now time to practice. Grab your mandolin and try to play the F#/Gb minor chord variants slowly at the beginning and then fast!

Resources

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