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The Gm chord

Built from G - A# - D, the Gm is a minor triad that sounds a chord that quiets a room. It lives at the centre of minor-key folk and modern pop, and it rewards exploration. Adele's Rolling in the Deep made Gm the modern pop sad-chord, but the chord has done that job for centuries. What follows below: the voicings worth memorising on guitar and piano, the theory in plain language, progressions in two or three different keys, and a short list of real records that lean on the chord.

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Voicings for Gm

Common ways to grip the Gm on guitar and piano. Guitar diagrams read low E to high E left-to-right; an × means muted, an open circle above the nut means an open string. Filled dots are fretted notes.

Guitar , full chord shapes

CAGED-derived voicings for Gm across the neck. Pick the shape closest to where your hand already sits.

Guitar: Em shape at fr.3

Notes: G - A# - D (chord tones)

Guitar: Am shape at fr.10

Notes: G - A# - D (chord tones)

Guitar: Dm shape at fr.5

Notes: G - A# - D (chord tones)

Guitar: top-4 voicing

Notes: G - A# - D (chord tones)

Guitar: high top-4 voicing

Notes: G - A# - D (chord tones)

Guitar , triad shapes

Three-note voicings on three adjacent strings. Light textures for arpeggios, pop layering and chord-melody work.

Triad: top-string triad

Notes: 3-note voicing on adjacent strings

Triad: middle-string triad

Notes: 3-note voicing on adjacent strings

Triad: bass-side triad

Notes: 3-note voicing on adjacent strings

Piano voicings

Root position and inversions. The bass note matters: each inversion changes how the chord sits under a melody.

Piano: root position

Notes: G - A# - D. Root G at the bottom. The classic stacked-thirds spelling of a minor triad.

Piano: first inversion

Notes: A# - D - G. A# at the bottom. Common in chord-melody, walking bass lines and gentler voicings.

Piano: second inversion

Notes: D - G - A#. D at the bottom. A floating, suspended feel often used in hymns and ballads.

The theory behind Gm

The Gm chord (G - A# - D) is a minor triad. Its intervals are root, minor third, perfect fifth. Functionally it lives at home in F major as the Supertonic (ii), but you'll also find it in Bb major as the Submediant (vi). The chord tends to move to its relative major or step down to the bVII, which is why it shows up in any minor-key song.

Progressions that use Gm

Short progressions that put the Gm to work. Each one is shown in a different key so you can pick the one that suits your singer.

ii→V→I key of F major

Gm - C - F

The cornerstone of every jazz standard. ii sets up the dominant, V resolves home with full gravity. Add a seventh on each chord for the canonical sound.

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I→V→vi→IV key of Bb major

Bb - F - Gm - Eb

The four-chord engine behind a thousand pop hits. The lift from I to V opens the chorus, vi pulls down into feeling, IV walks back toward home.

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i→iv→V→i key of D minor

Dm - Gm - Am - Dm

The classical pull. The V is borrowed from harmonic minor (a major V instead of v), creating a sharper push back to the tonic. Used in flamenco, classical and metal alike.

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i→VI→III→VII key of G minor

Gm - Eb - Bb - F

Heroic minor four-chord. The descent from i to VI to III gives the verse weight, VII slingshots back to the tonic. The Andalusian cousin of the pop axis.

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Songs that feature Gm

Real records where this chord does structural work. No lyrics quoted, just the title and artist so you can pull up a copy and hear it in context.

Wake Me Up When September Ends by Green Day. Gm in the chorus harmony.
Rolling in the Deep by Adele. Gm as the home chord of the verse.
Shape of You by Ed Sheeran. Gm-based loop drives the song.

Related chords

Chords a step away from the Gm in the songwriting circle, the natural neighbours when you want a substitution.

ParallelG DomG7 Maj7Gmaj7 NeighbourD NeighbourDm NeighbourD7 NeighbourC NeighbourCm

Keys where Gm lives

The keys where this chord turns up diatonically. Open any key page for the full set of progressions that lean on it.

F major Bb major Eb major D minor

More songwriting tools

Got the chord but still wrestling with the lyric? Find the right rhyme in RhymeForge, or break a writer's block with the unexpected word-pair generator in CollisionLab. Need to map a full progression? The chord builder on the home page is where the Gm fits into context. All free, no signup.

About the chord builder

The Undercover Zest chord progression builder is a free interactive tool that maps every diatonic and borrowed chord in every key. Click a Roman numeral to hear it, drag chords into a progression, then audition voicings, inversions and tensions until the song clicks.

This page is a static reference for the Gm. For interactive playback, voice-leading hints and substitution suggestions, open the chord builder above.