D♯ minor chord on piano

The notes and their roles

D♯ minor contains D♯, F♯ and A♯. From the root, the semitone offsets are 0, 3, 7. The degree formula 1, ♭3, 5 describes each member relative to the root, not its order in a particular voicing.

Read this shape accurately

D-sharp, F-sharp and A-sharp occupy black keys. Use these sharp spellings with a D-sharp root; E-flat minor is a different written name for the same pitch classes.

Change only the third

Hold D♯ and A♯ steady. Raise F♯ by one semitone to F𝄪 and the quality changes to major. 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 · F♯4 · 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.

A short listening check

Play D♯ minor together, then as separate notes. Name the minor third before looking at the display. Repeat in first inversion and check that F♯ is the bass while D♯ remains the root.

1. Choose the displayed root and quality in the chord explorer.
2. Compare root position with one inversion at the same tempo.
3. Save both examples in a named practice collection, or export a reference with note names.