D♭ major chord on piano
Find the D♭ major notes, inspect their piano positions, and compare inversions with an audible reference.
Select a key to hear its pitch. Use Tab to reach keys and Enter or Space to play them.
Ready to play. Sound starts when you press Play.
Compare another chord
C Minor
C4 · E♭4 · G4
Notes and intervals
| Degree | Notes | Semitones |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | D♭4 | 0 |
| 3 | F4 | 4 |
| 5 | A♭4 | 7 |
The notes and their roles
D♭ major contains D♭, F and A♭. From the root, the semitone offsets are 0, 4, 7. The degree formula 1, 3, 5 describes each member relative to the root, not its order in a particular voicing.
| Note | Role | Semitones above root |
|---|---|---|
| D♭ | Root | 0 |
| F | Major third | 4 |
| A♭ | Perfect fifth | 7 |
Read this shape accurately
D-flat and A-flat sit on black keys with F between them on a white key. Keep F natural: writing E-sharp would obscure the third even though it reaches the same piano key.
Change only the third
Hold D♭ and A♭ steady. Lower F by one semitone to F♭ and the quality changes to minor. The root and perfect fifth do not change. This isolates the interval that distinguishes the two triads.
Choose a bass note
The root-position octave example is D♭4 · F4 · A♭4. Inversions put a different member in the bass while retaining D♭ as the root. The table gives pitch-class order; move the leading notes up an octave as needed to keep each example ascending.
| Position | Notes from the bass | Bass |
|---|---|---|
| Root position | D♭ · F · A♭ | D♭ |
| First inversion | F · A♭ · D♭ | F |
| Second inversion | A♭ · D♭ · F | A♭ |
A short listening check
Play D♭ major together, then as separate notes. Name the major third before looking at the display. Repeat in first inversion and check that F is the bass while D♭ remains the root.
- Choose the displayed root and quality in the chord explorer.
- Compare root position with one inversion at the same tempo.
- Save both examples in a named practice collection, or export a reference with note names.
Sources and methods
- Open Music Theory: Triads
- Enharmonic notes
- ChordLilt product contract
- Inverted triads