Four notes · 1 ♭3 5 ♭7 · pure 10:12:15:18
The minor 7th chord
A minor 7th chord is a minor chord with a minor seventh on top, a whole step below the octave. It sounds mellow and relaxed, softer than a plain minor chord.
How it's built
Stack a minor third, a major third and another minor third: C, E♭, G and B♭. The top three notes make an E♭ major chord, so Cm7 has the same notes as E♭6. There's no semitone and no tritone anywhere in it, which is part of why it sounds so smooth.
Singing it in tune
Tuned pure, it's 10:12:15:18. The minor third sits 15.6 cents (a cent is a hundredth of a semitone) above the piano's, the fifth 2.0 above, and the seventh, 9:5, 17.6 above: every tone over the root moves up. The chord holds two pure fifths, root to fifth and third to seventh, interlocked.
The 9:5 seventh is a different note from the barbershop 7:4 of a dominant 7th: tuned pure, the seventh of C7 sits 48.8 cents below the seventh of Cm7, nearly half a semitone, though both are the piano's B♭.
Where you hear it
On the second note of a major key, as in the jazz ii-V-I: Dm7, G7, Cmaj7 in C. Often on the sixth and third notes too, Am7 and Em7. In soul, funk and jazz, a whole section can sit on a single minor 7th chord.
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Questions
What notes are in an Am7 chord?
A, C, E and G: an A minor chord with G on top. Cm7 is C, E♭, G and B♭.
What is the difference between a minor 7th and a dominant 7th chord?
The third. Both have a minor seventh, but the minor 7th has a minor third (E♭ over C) and the dominant 7th a major third (E). The minor 7th is mellow; the dominant 7th pulls toward the next chord.
Is Am7 the same as C6?
They have the same four notes, A, C, E and G, and the bass usually decides: with A at the bottom it acts as Am7, with C as C6. Tuned pure here, they even come out the same.
What is the difference between m7 and m7♭5?
The fifth. In m7♭5, the half-diminished chord, the fifth is lowered a semitone: C, E♭, G♭ and B♭. It sounds darker and less settled.
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