Minor seventh inversions

Exploring Minor Seventh Chords

So you'll remember playing four-note chords on major sevenths and dominant sevenths earlier on. Now, we're going to extend that to minor seventh chords and look at the four-note shapes and inversion positions related to that chord.

C Minor 7 Chord

Here's a C minor 7 chord, like a C minor triad with the flattened 7th.

• Let's play this in the right hand and look at the inversions.
• We'll do it with the metronome at 80 beats per minute as normal: two clicks of the chord.
• And don't forget to do it in the left hand.

Relationship to Minor Pentatonic

Because the minor seventh chord contains A flat seven and B flat, it fits perfectly with the minor pentatonic. In fact, it is the minor pentatonic minus the fourth.

If you take the fourth away from the minor pentatonic, you're left with the notes of the minor seventh chord.

Now we can also play that over F7. Maybe play the F7 like that to bring it next door.

• Listen to the sound of the minor pentatonic over those two chords.
• We can make the left hand a bit more interesting by playing it like this.

Next Steps

We're going to explore this minor pentatonic scale a bit further in Sing and Play number two in the key of A minor. Instead of playing C minor to F7, we'll be playing A minor to D7.

Notice I've swapped the inversions around there:

• I'm playing A minor 7 not in root position but in second inversion.
• The D7 is in root position just to keep them in the center of the piano.

We can start out in a slightly easier left hand by playing them as triads.

So you just need to find two inversions of A minor and D.

• Don't worry about the sevenths.
• It could be those two.
• It could be these two.
• Could be these two.

I'm going to go for those two.