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G minor chord

The three notes, the three ways to stack them and which fingers to use.

The short answer

The notes of the G minor chord are G, B flat and D.

On the keys

Keyboard with G, B flat and D markedGDB♭

Yellow is the root, the note the chord is named after.

On the staff

Treble and bass staves showing the G minor chord in root position: G, B flat and D

The G minor chord in root position. The treble clef is the right hand; the bass clef is the same chord an octave lower for the left.

Inversions

An inversion keeps the same three notes and changes which one is lowest. The G minor chord has a root position and two inversions, and all three still sound as G minor.

  1. Root positionG B♭ Dright hand 1 3 5, left hand 5 3 1
  2. First inversionB♭ D Gright hand 1 2 5, left hand 5 3 1
  3. Second inversionD G B♭right hand 1 3 5, left hand 5 2 1

Keep going

G minor scale

The scale this chord is built on: G, A, B flat, C, D, E flat and F.

B flat major chord

The relative major shares the same key signature as G minor.

G major chord

Same root, one note different: the third moves a semitone up.

Questions

How do you build a G minor chord?

Start on G, add the minor third (three semitones) above it, which is B flat, then the perfect fifth above the root (seven semitones), which is D.

How many inversions does a G minor chord have?

Two: first inversion puts B flat at the bottom and second inversion puts D at the bottom. With root position that makes three ways to play the same chord.

Practise G minor and the chords around it in PlayPiano, a piano practice app for iPhone and iPad.

Play it in the app