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D♭ major

D♭ major has 5 flats (B♭, E♭, A♭, D♭ and G♭). Its scale is D♭ E♭ F G♭ A♭ B♭ C, its chords are D♭, E♭m, Fm, G♭, A♭, B♭m and Cdim, and its relative minor is B♭ minor.

Make a beat in D♭ majorWrite a melody in this key

Opens the free editor with a pop beat on D♭ A♭ B♭m G♭. No account needed to start.

The D♭ major scale

Whole, whole, half, whole, whole, whole, half: the half steps come between F and G♭, and between C and D♭.

D♭ E♭ F G♭ A♭ B♭ C D♭

FCD♭E♭G♭A♭B♭D♭

On the piano, D♭ major uses 5 black keys (D♭, E♭, G♭, A♭ and B♭) and 2 white keys (F and C).

The notes of D♭ major by scale degree
DegreeNoteName
1D♭Tonic
2E♭Supertonic
3FMediant
4G♭Subdominant
5A♭Dominant
6B♭Submediant
7CLeading tone

Chords in D♭ major

One chord on each note of the scale, built from the scale’s own notes. The Roman numeral says which note it starts on: capitals are major, small letters minor.

ID♭
iiE♭m
iiiFm
IVG♭
VA♭
viB♭m
vii°Cdim

Which chords sound happy or sad

Bright

D♭ G♭ A♭

I, IV, V. The major chords. D♭ feels like home; A♭ pulls back to it.

Softer, sadder

E♭m Fm B♭m

ii, iii, vi. The minor chords. B♭m is the sad turn in many pop songs.

Tense

Cdim

vii°. Diminished: tense and unstable, it wants to move on, usually to D♭.

A progression in D♭ major

The pop progression · I–V–vi–IV
D♭
A♭
B♭m
G♭
Hear it as

More progressions in D♭ major

Key signature and related keys

Key signature

5 flats: B♭ E♭ A♭ D♭ G♭

Written at the start of every line of music, so each B, E, A, D and G is played flat. Sharps join in the order F C G D A E B, and flats in the order B E A D G C F.

Relative minor

B♭ minor

The same seven notes and key signature, starting on B♭.

Parallel minor

C♯ minor

The same home note (C♯ is D♭ written another way), with 4 sharps. Borrowing a chord from it makes a part sound darker.

Next to it on the circle of fifths

Keys next to each other share six of their seven notes. See them all on the circle of fifths.

D♭ major in beats

None of the editor’s genre starters is written in D♭ major, so the beat above plays its chords over lo-fi, pop, trap, house or drill drums. Set the editor’s project key to D♭ major and the chords and parts you add next follow it.

Questions about D♭ major

How many flats are in D♭ major?

Five: B♭, E♭, A♭, D♭ and G♭. Those notes are played flat every time, so the key signature has 5 flats, and B♭ minor, its relative minor, has the same.

What is the relative minor of D♭ major?

B♭ minor. It uses the same seven notes and the same key signature as D♭ major, but starts on B♭, the sixth note of the scale. The two share every chord, which is why songs move between them so easily.

What chords are in D♭ major?

D♭, E♭m, Fm, G♭, A♭, B♭m and Cdim: one built on each note of the scale (I, ii, iii, IV, V, vi, vii°). D♭, G♭ and A♭ are the three major chords most songs in D♭ major lean on, and B♭m (vi) gives a sadder turn.

What is the most common chord progression in D♭ major?

I–V–vi–IV: D♭, A♭, B♭m and G♭. It is behind hundreds of hit songs, and it is the one the beat on this page plays.

Every key

Major keys
C majorG majorD majorA majorE majorB majorF♯ majorD♭ majorA♭ majorE♭ majorB♭ majorF major
Minor keys
A minorE minorB minorF♯ minorC♯ minorG♯ minorD♯ minorB♭ minorF minorC minorG minorD minor

Build a song in D♭ major

Start with the beat, then add chords, a melody and your voice in the editor, part by part.

Make a beat in D♭ majorAll music keys

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