What is a Dmaj7 chord?

The D Major Seventh piano chord is often abbreviated to just “Dmaj7”, and is a four-note chord made up D, F#, A, and C#. It has a warm, jazzy sound to it, and will often be followed by chords such as Gmaj7 or Amaj9.

Playing Dmaj7 with two hands

The diagram below shows the best way of playing a chord of C major with both the left and right hands. Use your left hand to play two C notes, an octave apart. Your right hand then plays a triad formed of E, G, and B.

An alternative way to play Dmaj7

A common variation for playing Cmaj7 on the piano is to move the E note from the bottom of the right hand to the top. For example:

In fact, it doesn’t really matter what order the notes are in your right hand, just as long as all the notes required to play Dmaj7 are present. Try experimenting with different variations, and get comfortable moving from one to the other.

Chords related to Dmaj7

There are a number of other chords that share a similar harmonic family as the chord of Dmaj7 on piano, meaning all of these will always sounds good when played in the same chord sequence:

Chord name	Required notes
G Major	G B D
A Major	A C# E
B Minor	B D F#
E Minor	E G B
D Minor	D F A
D7	D F# A C

List of all D chords on piano

D MinorD MajorD7Dm7DmM7D6Dm6D5D9Dm9Dmaj9Dsus2Dsus4Ddim7Daug7

What are piano chords?

A piano chord is formed when two or more notes are played on a piano or keyboard at the same time. Click here to read our complete guide to learning how to play chords on piano now!