Oct 29

D Major Guitar Chord

How to Play D Major Chord

If they were giving out work permissions for guitar players, this one would definitely be one of the main conditions of obtaining one!

Today, we will be showing you two different versions of the D major guitar chord shapes.

One will be the standard D major open chord, and the other one will be the barre chord on the 5th fret of the 5th string.

Before we continue, just make sure to understand that the D major chord is usually written in notation as a D chord.

Ok, now that we’ve covered all the basics - let us make haste!

Watch this video to learn How to Play D Major Chord

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Easy way of playing the D Major Guitar Chord

Let’s start with the D major open chord.

Ok, so, let's first define what an open chord is. It is a chord that features one or more open strings and is usually played on the first three frets of the guitar neck.

For this one, you need to put your middle finger on the 2nd fret of the 1st string. After that, put your ring finger on the 3rd fret of the 2nd string. Lastly, put your index finger on the 2nd fret of the 3rd string.

With your picking hand, you should strum the bottom 4 strings.

Advanced way of playing the D Major Guitar Chord

C’mon, don’t be scared! We’re gonna show you how to play barre (barre = bar) chords. With a little bit of patience, you will be playing these like Angus Young in no time!

For this one, bar your index finger across the bottom 5 strings on the 5th fret of the 5th string. (that’s a lot of fives, even Guthrie Govan would be amazed) Furthermore, barre your ring finger across the 4th, 3rd, and 2nd strings on the 7th fret.

Strum the bottom 5 strings with your picking hand.

D Major Guitar Chord practice tips:

  1. While playing the open D major guitar chord, make sure that all your open strings ring. You have to make sure that your fingers are not brushing up any unwanted strings, and thus muting them. Pick all the strings in succession, to make sure everything is ok. You may need to adjust your fretting hand’s angle

  2. When reading the D major chord diagram, you should know that ‘’X’’ signifies a string you do not want to play.

  3. When placing your fingers to play this D major chord, make sure that you are behind the fret wire. Also, barre’s aside, make sure that you are pressing the strings with your fingertips.
Pro-tip: There are many different ways of playing the D major chord on the guitar. Do you want to learn other versions of this chord? Other chords in D major scale? Or like, literally everything guitar-related? If the answer is - yes, to any of the above, make sure to join the GuitarZoom membership!