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Dm6 guitar chord

D minor 6 is D, F, A and B. Below are the shapes up the neck, the note each string sounds, and the country, blues, and pop progressions Dm6 turns up in — press ▶ on any grid to hear it.

Root
Quality

Dm64 shapes up the neck

Open position
Root on the 4th (D) string
1D5A6B♭3F21
D shape
3rd fret
Root on the 5th (A) string
3fr1D♭3F6B1D5A31214
C shape
5th fret
Root on the 5th (A) string
5fr1D5A♭3F6B1324
A shape
9th fret
Root on the 6th (low E) string
9fr1D6B♭3F5A1D21333
E shape

Where you'll hear Dm6

The chord in its usual company, already moved into your key. Dm6 is the highlighted one — it won't always be first, because some chords only ever pass through on the way somewhere else. Hit play to hear a line strummed at a tempo typical of the style, or turn on Repeat and let it loop while you play along.

Blues84 bpm
Dm6i6Gm7iv7Dm6i6A7V7

Minor blues with a jazz accent — a minor 6 home chord in place of a minor 7.

Pop104 bpm
Dm6ivm6AI

The minor-plagal turn — a minor 6 falling onto the 1 chord is how the Beatles ended a ballad.

Only two styles here. Country stays with the major 6. The minor version belongs to jazz and soul.

How to use the shapes

  • The number on a dot is that note's job in the chord: 1 is the root, 3 the third, 5 the fifth. A flat sign marks a lowered tone — the ♭3 is what makes a minor chord sound minor.
  • Major, minor, and 7th chords (dom 7, maj 7, min 7) show the five CAGED positions — the badge under each grid names the open chord the grip is borrowed from. One shape stays open; the other four are that grip moved up the neck. A few of the minor and 7th grips skip strings a full hand can't reach — the × marks show what to leave out.
  • Every other quality gets the same badge wherever the shape earns it: an E-shape sus4 and an A-shape 6th are the plain open grips with one note moved. Expect fewer than five — the C and G shapes run out of fingers once a chord carries a 6th or a 9th, and the richest voicings (9ths, 13ths) come from jazz grips no open chord gives rise to. Those are still worth learning; they just go unbadged rather than get a label they haven't earned.
  • The small greyed numbers under each grid are a suggested fingering — 1 is the index finger, 4 the little finger. They're only a suggestion, and they sit outside the grid on purpose: what a note is doing in the chord matters more than which finger presses it.
  • Press ▶ on any grid to hear that exact voicing strummed.
  • Learn the open position first, then the shape with the root on the 6th string, then the one rooted on the 5th — that trio covers most songs.
  • Shapes with no open strings are movable: slide the whole grip up or down and the root string tells you which note names the chord.
  • A long bar across the dots is a barre — one finger flattened over several strings.

Chords feel awkward at first? The Foundations path builds them up one finger at a time →

Chord voicings from the open-source chords-db project (MIT license).