D♭ major: scale and chords

The D flat major scale (D♭)

D♭ E♭ F G♭ A♭ B♭ C

Key signature: five flats, written B♭ E♭ A♭ D♭ G♭. On a piano that is all five black keys plus F and C. Whole and half steps: W W H W W W H, the half steps between F and G♭ and between C and D♭. Each letter appears once, which is why the fourth note is G♭ and never F♯.

The chord on the fifth degree, A♭7, pulls back to D♭.

In Hz, from the keynote in octave 4: D♭4 277.2 · E♭4 311.1 · F4 349.2 · G♭4 370.0 · A♭4 415.3 · B♭4 466.2 · C5 523.3

Play the scale

D♭ major scale on piano

Start on the black key with the second finger, not the thumb. Right hand 2 3 1 2 3 4 1 2, left hand 3 2 1 4 3 2 1 3: in both hands the thumb lands only on the two white keys, F and C. It sits under the hand better than it looks: Chopin started his pupils on B major rather than C, because long fingers lie naturally on the black keys (Eigeldinger, Chopin: Pianist and Teacher, 1986).

D♭ major scale on guitar

From the 4th fret of the A string: A 4 6, D 3 4 6, G 3 5 6. From the 9th fret of the low E string: E 9 11, A 8 9 11, D 8 10 11. No open string is in the key's chord, so guitarists often use a capo at the 1st fret and play C major shapes.

The D♭ major chord (D♭) on piano and guitar

D♭ F A♭

D♭ is D♭, F and A♭, the D♭ major triad: the keynote, the major third and the fifth. It's the chord a song in D♭ comes home to, the I in the table below.

Piano: D♭ (black), F (white) and A♭ (black). D♭ is the lower of the pair of black keys. From the root, 4 semitones up to the third, 3 more to the fifth. Right hand 1 3 5, left hand 5 3 1. The inversions are the same chord: first inversion F A♭ D♭ (right hand 1 2 5), second inversion A♭ D♭ F (1 3 5).

Guitar: x 4 6 6 6 4 (low E to high E, x = not played). A barre: the index finger flat across the 4th fret from the A string, D, G and B at the 6th; low E stays silent. It's the open A shape moved up 4 frets.

Easier shape: x x x 6 6 4 the top three strings only, no full barre: the same chord, thinner. Or a capo at the 1st fret and an open C shape, x 3 2 0 1 0 counted from the capo.

Ukulele: 1 1 1 4 (G C E A): A♭, D♭, F and D♭.

Play D♭

The chords in D♭ major

Tap a chord to hear it.

The loop plays I–V–vi–IV: D♭ A♭ B♭m G♭.

D♭ major chord progressions

• I–V–vi–IV D♭ A♭ B♭m G♭: the four chords most pop songs are built on, the loop above.
• I–IV–V (the 1-4-5) D♭ G♭ A♭: the plain cadence.
• ii–V–I E♭m7 A♭7 D♭maj7: the jazz cadence; D♭maj7 is D♭ F A♭ C, on guitar x 4 3 1 1 1.
• I–vi–ii–V D♭ B♭m E♭m A♭: the turnaround that loops back to the top.

Keys that mix with D♭ major

On the Camelot wheel D♭ major is 3B (Open Key 8d). Tracks in these keys mix without a clash:

• 3A B♭ minor relative minor, the same seven notes
• 2B F♯ major one step down
• 4B A♭ major one step up
• 5B E♭ major two steps up, the energy boost

B♭ minor, the relative minor, shares the five flats and every note. A D♭ minor key would need eight flats, a B𝄫 among them, so it's written as C♯ minor, four sharps.

Pieces and songs in D♭ major

The key of a lot of Romantic piano music: Debussy's "Clair de lune" (the whole piece is in D♭: it opens and closes there, and the middle passes through C♯ minor before coming home), Chopin's "Minute" Waltz Op. 64 No. 1, the "Raindrop" Prelude Op. 28 No. 15, the Nocturne Op. 27 No. 2 and the Berceuse Op. 57, Liszt's "Un sospiro". The Largo of Dvořák's "New World" Symphony is in D♭, and Tchaikovsky's First Piano Concerto, in B♭ minor, opens with its big theme in D♭. In rock, Guns N' Roses tuned down a semitone, so the D-shaped riff of "Sweet Child O' Mine" sounds in D♭.

Questions about D♭ major

Is D♭ major the same as C♯ major?

It sounds the same and uses the same keys on a piano. Written, C♯ major needs seven sharps (C♯ D♯ E♯ F♯ G♯ A♯ B♯) against five flats, so D♭ is the usual choice. In C♯ spelling the third note is E♯, the white key F, and the seventh is B♯, the white key C.

What notes are in a D♭ major chord?

D♭, F and A♭; as a seventh chord, D♭maj7 adds C.

Is D♭ a hard key?

On piano, no harder than C once the fingering above sits: the black keys give the hand a fixed frame. On guitar there is no open chord in the key, so it's barres, a capo at the 1st fret, or the whole guitar tuned down a semitone.

D♭ major in bass clef

The same five flats in the same order, B♭ E♭ A♭ D♭ G♭, each one line or space lower than in treble clef: B♭ on the second line, E♭ in the third space, A♭ in the first space, D♭ on the third line, G♭ on the first line.

What plays

Drums, an organ bass and a pluck, the Brumm app's own sounds, four bars at 123 BPM, one chord per bar. The arrows move bass and chords a semitone; the drums stay.

Where D♭ major sits

Choir parts (soprano C4–G5, alto G3–D5, tenor C3–G4, bass F2–D4, where two part-writing guides agree): D♭4–D♭5 fits the soprano and alto parts; D♭3–D♭4 fits the tenor and bass parts. Find your own range.

As a sub or an 808, the keynote is D♭1 at 34.6 Hz, below what most speakers outside a club reproduce, or D♭2 at 69.3 Hz an octave up. Write the 808 at D♭1 if you like. A phone speaker plays neither D♭1 nor D♭2 (69.3 Hz), only the 808's harmonics: check the low end on headphones or monitors. Tune an 808 to D♭.

Then hum over it

The hum button opens Brumm with a short line in the key over a beat. Hum yours and it becomes an instrument. No account, no upload.

Sources

Scales and chords: Open Music Theory, musictheory.net. Camelot, Open Key: Mixed In Key, Mixgraph. Open strings: Wikipedia. Choir parts: Open Music Theory, Geneseo. Guitar shapes: Wikipedia, Barre chord. Hz: A4 = 440 Hz, ISO 16.

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