Mandolin Chords, D minor

Overview

There are many positions (ways, variants etc.) to play the D minor mandolin chord. 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 minor (Dm) chord?

The Dm is a triad chord, i.e. it consists of three notes as following:

The root, which for the Dm chord is of course D
The third, which for the Dm chord is F. Note that this creates a minor third interval that consists of three half steps (D to D#, D# to E, E to F)
The fifth, which for the Dm chord is A. Note again that this creates a major third interval that consists of four half steps (F to F#, F# to G, G to G# and G# to A ).

Note that half steps correspond to one fret difference between notes played on the same string.

See how the Dm chord is written 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.

If you need a blank sheet paper to write it down in order to understand it, you can download one from theMandolinTuner free blank music paper sheet.

Two finger, Dm fingered for mandolin, 1st position

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

First finger on 1st fret of first string.
Second finger on 2nd fret of fourth string.
No finger on on second string.
No finger on on third string.

Four Finger Dm, fingered for mandolin, 2nd position

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

First finger on 1st fret of first string.
Second finger on 2nd fret of fourth string.
Third finger on 3rd fret of third string.
Fourth finger on 5th fret of second string.

Three finger Dm, fingered for mandolin, 3rd position

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

First finger on 2nd fret of fourth string.
Second finger on 3rd fret of third string.
Fourth finger on 5th fret of first and second strings (barre).

D minor, All Mandolin Chord Variants

As with all chords, there are many variants of the Dm chord for the mandolin. So, if you want to explore more, see below a Chord Sheet that presents all variants for you to practice.