Minor Seventh Chords

Let’s look at how to play a D flat minor 7 chord on the piano. We’ll also learn the pattern for building any other minor seventh chord.

What Are Minor Seventh Chords?

Minor seventh chords are minor chords with an added note. The added note is the seventh note of the matching major scale, lowered 1/2 step.

So to build a minor seventh chord, we’ll start by building a minor chord. We can build a minor chord by taking the matching major chord and lowering the middle note 1/2 step.

Next we’ll find the seventh note of the matching major scale and lower it 1/2 step, before adding it to the chord.

Chord Types Printable

Learn to play 17 types of piano chords using 12 different root notes with this 35-page PDF! Chords are sorted both by their root note and type.

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How to Play a D Flat Minor 7 Chord

So to build a D flat minor 7 chord on the piano, we’ll start by converting a D flat major chord into a D flat minor chord. We can build a D flat major chord using the first, third and fifth notes of the D flat major scale: D♭ – F – A♭. Then we’ll convert the D flat major chord into a D flat minor chord by lowering the middle note 1/2 step: D♭ – F♭ – A♭

Then to convert the D flat minor chord into a D flat minor seventh chord, we’ll find the seventh note of the D flat major scale, C, and lower it 1/2 step: C♭

You may be wondering why we would label the notes “F♭” and “C♭” instead of “E” and “B”. The reason is because when we build this chord, we’re taking the third and seventh notes of the D flat major scale and lowering them 1/2 step. Since the third note of the D flat major scale is “F” and the seventh note is “C”, when we lower these notes 1/2 step, we label them as “F♭” and “C♭”.

So to play a D flat minor 7 chord, we’ll play:

D♭ – F♭ – A♭ – C♭

We can use this pattern to build any other minor seventh chord. We’ll first build a minor chord by taking the matching major chord and lowering the middle note 1/2 step. Then we’ll find the seventh note of the matching major scale, lower it 1/2 step, and add it to the chord.

Chord Fingering

When playing this chord with the right hand, we can use fingers 1 – 2 – 3 – 5 (thumbs are 1’s). When playing this chord with the left hand, we can use fingers 5 – 3 – 2 – 1.

Other Seventh Chords

Since there are different types of seventh chords, it can help to compare their differences:

Seventh chords are major chords with an added note. The added note is the seventh note of the matching major scale, lowered 1/2 step.

So a D flat 7 chord is: D♭ – F – A♭ – C♭

Minor seventh chords are minor chords with an added note. The added note is the seventh note of the matching major scale, lowered 1/2 step.

So a D flat minor 7 chord is: D♭ – F♭ – A♭ – C♭

Major seventh chords are major chords with an added note. The added note is the seventh note of the matching major scale.

So a D flat major 7 chord is: D♭ – F – A♭ – C

Other Chord Types

Some of the other chord types we can learn are:

Major
Minor
Augmented
Diminished
Second
Minor Second
Suspended
Fifth
Sixth
Minor Sixth
Seventh
Major Seventh
Ninth
Minor Ninth
Major Ninth

Conclusion

Now you know how to play a D flat minor 7 chord on the piano, and you can use this knowledge to build any other minor seventh chord!

Chords are a wonderful way to learn the piano and to enjoy music. Once we learn the pattern for building a particular chord type, we can start on any note and use the pattern to build another chord!