The Complete Idiot''s Guide to Music Theory

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For example, a C minor 7 chord includes the notes C, E
, G, and B
.

Here’s a quick look at how to build minor seventh chords on every note of the

scale:

Minor seventh chords.

There are several ways to indicate a minor seventh chord, as shown in the fol-

lowing table:

Notation for Minor Seventh Chords

Minor Seventh Chord Notation Example

minor 7 C minor 7

min7 C min7

m7 Cm7

Other Sevenths

When I said there were three basic types of seventh chords, I left the door open

for other types of less frequently used seventh chords. Indeed, you can stick

either a minor or a major seventh on top of any type of triad—major, minor,

augmented, or diminished—to create different types of seventh chords.

For example, a major seventh stuck on top of a minor triad creates a “minor

major seventh” chord. (That is, the base chord is minor, but the seventh is

major.) This is notated 1-
3-5-7; a C minor Major 7 chord would include the

notes C, E
, G, and B (natural).

Other types of seventh chords.

A minor seventh on top of a diminished triad creates a diminished seventh

chord, like this: 1-
3-
5-
7. (This is the chord you get if you play a seventh

chord based on the seventh tone of a major key.) A minor seventh on top of an

augmented triad creates an augmented seventh chord, like this: 1-3-5-
7. A

major seventh on top of an augmented triad creates a major seventh chord with

a raised fifth (5), like this: 1-3-5-7 ... and so on.