Minor Seventh Chords

Let’s look at how to play an E 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.

We can build a minor chord by taking the matching major chord and lowering the middle note 1/2 step.

To convert the minor chord into a minor seventh chord, we’ll find the seventh note of the matching major scale, lower it 1/2 step, and add 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 an E Flat Minor 7 Chord

So to play an E flat minor 7 chord, we’ll start with an E flat minor chord. We can build an E flat minor chord by taking an E flat major chord (E♭ – G – B♭) and lowering the middle note 1/2 step: E♭ – G♭ – B♭

Then we’ll find the seventh note of the E flat major scale, D, lower it 1/2 step to D♭, and add it to the chord.

So to play an E flat minor 7 chord, we’ll play:

E♭ – G♭ – B♭ – D♭

We can use this pattern to build any other minor seventh chord. We 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.

Other Seventh Chords

There are different types of seventh chords, so it can be helpful 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 an E flat 7 chord is: E♭ – G – B♭ – D♭

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

So an E flat major 7 chord is: E♭ – G – B♭ – D

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 an E flat minor 7 chord is: E♭ – G♭ – B♭ – D♭

Other Chord Types

Some of the other chord types you 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 build an E flat minor 7 chord on the piano, and you can use that knowledge to build any other minor seventh chord!

It’s fun to use chords to play the piano, and learning new types of chords gives you more options!