Minor seventh chord


In music, a minor seventh chord is any seventh chord in which the third is a minor third above the root. Most typically, minor seventh chord refers to a chord in which the third is a minor third above the root and the seventh is a minor seventh above the root. For example, the minor/minor seventh chord built on C, commonly written as C–7, has pitches C–E–G–B:

Minor/minor seventh chord

A seventh chord with a minor third, perfect fifth, and minor seventh is more precisely known as a minor/minor seventh chord, and it can be represented as either as m7 or −7, or in integer notation,.
This chord occurs on different scale degrees in different diatonic scales:
Example of tonic minor seventh chords include LaBelle's "Lady Marmalade", Roberta Flack's "Killing Me Softly with His Song", The Doobie Brothers' "Long Train Runnin'", Chic's "Le Freak", Lipps Inc.'s "Funkytown", and the Eagles' "One Of These Nights".

Minor/major seventh chord

When the seventh note is a major seventh above the root, it is called a minor/major seventh chord. For example, the minor/major seventh chord built on C, commonly written as CmM7, has pitches C–E–G–B:

Its harmonic function is similar to that of a "normal" minor seventh, as is the minor seven flat five or half-diminished chord - but in each case, the altered tone creates a different feeling which is exploited in modulations and to use leading-tones.

Minor seventh as virtual augmented sixth chord

The minor seventh chord may also have its interval of minor seventh rewritten as an augmented sixth C–E–G–A. Rearranging and transposing, this gives A–C–E–F, a virtual minor version of the German augmented sixth chord. Again like the typical augmented sixth, this enharmonic interpretation gives on a resolution irregular for the minor seventh but normal for the augmented sixth chord, where the 2 voices at the enharmonic major second converge to unison or diverge to octave.

Minor seventh chord table

The just minor seventh chord is tuned in the ratios 10:12:15:18. This may be found on iii, vi, and vii. Another tuning may be in the ratios 48:40:32:27.

Minor seventh chords for guitar

In standard tuning, the left is the low E string, the number is the fret, and x means mute the string.