Chords for How to Play Minor 7 Guitar Chords
Tempo:
148.1 bpm
Chords used:
Am
A
C
Em
E
Tuning:Standard Tuning (EADGBE)Capo:+0fret
Start Jamming...
If you've ever wondered where minor 7 chords [Am] come from, they come from here, [N] deep in here.
If you've ever wondered how to make minor 7 chords and where to use them, you have come to the right place.
Because today it's all about minor 7.
Now, two of the probably most common minor 7 chords you'll ever [Am] see are A minor being [B] turned into [Am] an A minor 7,
[Em] by just lifting your ring finger up, or E minor being turned into an E minor 7.
So [N] you might think that minor 7 means you just kind of take something away from a chord, but no!
That is not true, we're actually adding something.
And the definition is, we are adding the 7th note of the minor scale to [Am] a minor chord.
So, what I mean by that, and that's what I'm going to use as an example, is going to be the key, or the scale of A minor.
If you don't know how to come about the scale of A minor, there is a link to a video in the description that maybe you should watch first.
But, we're going to start right here, on the 5th fret of the E string.
Now the shape to make A minor is this.
[B] 5, [C] 7, [D] 8, [E] [F] 5, [Ab] 7, 8, [A] 5, 7.
Now the notes [Bb] there are going to [A] be [B] A, B, [C] [D] C, [E] D, [Bb] E, F, [A] G, and A.
[N] It's not necessary that you know the names of the notes, it helps a lot, but we're going to number them.
So instead of just A, B, C, D, E, F, G, A, [A] it's going to be 1, [Bb] 2, 3, [F] 4, 5, [Bb] 6, [A] 7, 8.
That means we can use these same rules and techniques and everything on any [Gm] single note.
It doesn't have to be an A, it could be a G.
1, 2, 3, [G] 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
Those are going to be different notes, [Am] but all the same stuff is going to apply.
So, to make a minor chord, first of all, we take the A, we take the 3rd note in the [B] scale, [Am] which [C] is a C, A, C.
We're going to [Bm] take the 5th note, 1, 2, 3, [E] 4, 5, there's an E.
[A]
[C] We have [E] A, a C, an E.
Now we're going to [Gm] add the 7th [Em] note.
In this case, [Bb] A, B, C, D, [Em] E, F.
7 is [A] G, so [C] A, [Em] C, E, G.
In fact, before we do the shapes, [Bb] let's actually just look at this as an arpeggio.
We can always [Am] replace an A minor chord with an A minor arpeggio.
[C]
[A] And another A, so [C] A, C.
[Am] Any combination of those four notes is going to give you an A minor 7 chord.
So, let's learn some different voicings set on different strings.
Now again, here's the most common one right here.
An [G] A minor chord with an open [Am] G string.
Now, that's great for A minor, but what if we wanted to make a B minor?
You can't really just move it down two frets [D] like this.
Instead of a cool chord, not technically a B [E] minor.
We would need to take the open [G] notes with us.
So, where open would [Am] be on G and A in this shape,
to move it down to a [Bm] B, we'd have to root here and make it here.
So this shape might be really familiar with you for like a B minor.
B minor [Cm] 7.
C minor, C [Dbm] minor 7.
So the root [C] note is [A] going to be on the A string in this [Am] particular voicing.
[E] Now, another really good one is if you root it on the E string.
[Am] So, the fifth fret on the E string is an A.
Now, you may be used to a bar chord like this.
Without your [Gb] middle finger, that's an [Am] A minor bar chord.
What you can do is you can just pop your pinky up.
[E] Which is essentially when you have that E [Em] minor, making it an E minor [E] 7.
So another [Am] voicing here is [C] 5, 7, 5, [Am] 5, 5, 5.
Now, that can be kind of difficult.
It depends on the action of your guitar and stuff.
It can be kind of hard to hold down all this stuff.
So another really good one is this right here.
Essentially the same thing, but we're just kind of cutting out the A string.
So I have 5 [D] E.
I'm skipping [C]
the A string.
And you notice if I play it [D] like this with my middle finger,
my middle finger is naturally resting and muting the A string so I [Gm] can't hear it.
Because if it were to hold it down, [A] that's what it sounds like.
[F] That's not a minor 7 chord.
We have a D in that.
We don't want a D [Am] there.
So, right here I'm getting [B] 5, skipping the A string, [C] muting the A string.
5, 5, [Am] 5.
So, you can kind of do like a little root chord thing with this here.
Like, [B] there's A minor 7 to A [Bbm] sharp or B flat minor 7.
[B] B.
[Cm] [Am]
So, another good voicing right here.
If we ever wanted to root it on the D string, a third voicing for a minor 7,
we would just find this A, we'd get [Ebm] octave down.
[A] 1, 2, 3, [G] 4, 5, 6, [A] 7, 8.
And root it right here with an A.
We're going to make a [E] power chord, but we're going to make it [A] with our pinky.
[E] And then [C] get these two.
[B] Pretty cool voicing right here.
[A] So I've got [E] 7, D, 9, [Eb] G, 8 [Am] and 8 on B and E.
So we've got three voicings so far.
We have an open A, A string root voicing.
Or, same thing, an E string root voicing.
And then we have a D string root voicing.
[Bb] Okay?
And again, we have an arpeggio that goes with this.
So we can replace.
Any time there's an A [Am] minor, [Bbm] we can replace it with one of these other voicings.
And the [A] arpeggio is as here.
[C] [A]
[Em] 1, 3, [A] 5, 7 octave.
If we wanted to [Bb] go across two octaves of this, it's [Am] really easy.
[C] [A] The second octave would [C] be
[Bb] So, the frets on the strings would be [Am] 5, 8, 7, 5, [Ab] 7, 5, [G] 5, [A] 8, 5.
But the shape is more important than the frets.
[G] Because if we wanted to root it on a different one,
if we wanted to do a [D] D, right [Bb] here, the 10th fret,
we could just do the [D] same shape.
[Bb] [D] [N] Okay?
And these can replace chords.
Now we know how to make a minor 7.
When do you use a minor 7 chord or shape?
And the beauty of minor 7 chords, no matter what key you're in,
if it's a minor chord, it can be turned in to a minor 7 chord.
Now, the formula would be like in any key, right?
Like say you're in the key of C major.
There's 7 notes.
C, D, E, F, G, A, B.
Whatever.
The first, fourth, and fifth notes in that key become major chords.
The second, third, and sixth chords become minor chords.
If that just blew your mind, you don't know what that means,
there's another link in the description on basic music theory
and how to use the notes in a scale to make chords.
But if you understand that the second, third, and sixth chords, or notes,
in a scale become minor chords,
then turning them into minor 7 chords is just one note extended beyond that.
So, let's just take the key of C, for example.
We have 7 [Gb] notes.
C, D, E, F, G, A, B.
On a guitar it would be C, [G] D, E, [Gbm] F, G, [B] A, [C] B.
And another C.
Now the second note in the key of C [D] is a D.
[Gm] The third note [E] is an E.
[F] [G] The fourth is F, the [A] fifth is G, and the sixth note is [Bb] A.
So there are 3 minor chords in the key of C.
[Am] A minor being the [Em] 6th, E minor being the [D] 3rd, and D minor being the 2nd.
Now, I'm sure you probably already [Am] know those chords.
A minor, [Em] E [Dm] minor, G minor.
Now, within the rules of music theory, any of those,
[N] if you added the next, the 7th number from that first number in the key,
would give you a minor 7 chord.
So, any time you see a minor chord, you can replace it with a minor 7 chord or arpeggio.
For example, let's use some of the shapes we already learned.
So we've got A minors, [Am] open A minor.
Let's replace that with this.
So instead of going, [Em]
[Dm] [Am]
that [Abm] was an A minor, E minor, D minor, A minor [Am] progression.
We could replace that with this A minor.
[E] Instead of going to this E minor, we could find the E on the A string, [Gbm] the 7th fret.
[Em] [Am] So we've got A minor.
[D] [Em] [Dm] Move that back to D.
[Am]
[G] Now, if you notice, I just replaced [A] the whole chord with a little [G] arpeggio run.
I didn't even do anything [A] fancy.
I just went [C] up, 1, 3, 5, [A] 7, [Gm] octave, and back.
[Am] So instead of [Em] [B] A, E, [A] G, A, [Am] we've got A minor 7.
[Bb] [Em]
[Dm] Back to D, [Am] arpeggio.
[D] [Em]
[Am] [Dm] [Am]
[E] [C] [A]
[Bb] There you go.
Minor 7 chords, shapes.
Use them, abuse them, do whatever you want.
There it is.
[N]
If you've ever wondered how to make minor 7 chords and where to use them, you have come to the right place.
Because today it's all about minor 7.
Now, two of the probably most common minor 7 chords you'll ever [Am] see are A minor being [B] turned into [Am] an A minor 7,
[Em] by just lifting your ring finger up, or E minor being turned into an E minor 7.
So [N] you might think that minor 7 means you just kind of take something away from a chord, but no!
That is not true, we're actually adding something.
And the definition is, we are adding the 7th note of the minor scale to [Am] a minor chord.
So, what I mean by that, and that's what I'm going to use as an example, is going to be the key, or the scale of A minor.
If you don't know how to come about the scale of A minor, there is a link to a video in the description that maybe you should watch first.
But, we're going to start right here, on the 5th fret of the E string.
Now the shape to make A minor is this.
[B] 5, [C] 7, [D] 8, [E] [F] 5, [Ab] 7, 8, [A] 5, 7.
Now the notes [Bb] there are going to [A] be [B] A, B, [C] [D] C, [E] D, [Bb] E, F, [A] G, and A.
[N] It's not necessary that you know the names of the notes, it helps a lot, but we're going to number them.
So instead of just A, B, C, D, E, F, G, A, [A] it's going to be 1, [Bb] 2, 3, [F] 4, 5, [Bb] 6, [A] 7, 8.
That means we can use these same rules and techniques and everything on any [Gm] single note.
It doesn't have to be an A, it could be a G.
1, 2, 3, [G] 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
Those are going to be different notes, [Am] but all the same stuff is going to apply.
So, to make a minor chord, first of all, we take the A, we take the 3rd note in the [B] scale, [Am] which [C] is a C, A, C.
We're going to [Bm] take the 5th note, 1, 2, 3, [E] 4, 5, there's an E.
[A]
[C] We have [E] A, a C, an E.
Now we're going to [Gm] add the 7th [Em] note.
In this case, [Bb] A, B, C, D, [Em] E, F.
7 is [A] G, so [C] A, [Em] C, E, G.
In fact, before we do the shapes, [Bb] let's actually just look at this as an arpeggio.
We can always [Am] replace an A minor chord with an A minor arpeggio.
[C]
[A] And another A, so [C] A, C.
[Am] Any combination of those four notes is going to give you an A minor 7 chord.
So, let's learn some different voicings set on different strings.
Now again, here's the most common one right here.
An [G] A minor chord with an open [Am] G string.
Now, that's great for A minor, but what if we wanted to make a B minor?
You can't really just move it down two frets [D] like this.
Instead of a cool chord, not technically a B [E] minor.
We would need to take the open [G] notes with us.
So, where open would [Am] be on G and A in this shape,
to move it down to a [Bm] B, we'd have to root here and make it here.
So this shape might be really familiar with you for like a B minor.
B minor [Cm] 7.
C minor, C [Dbm] minor 7.
So the root [C] note is [A] going to be on the A string in this [Am] particular voicing.
[E] Now, another really good one is if you root it on the E string.
[Am] So, the fifth fret on the E string is an A.
Now, you may be used to a bar chord like this.
Without your [Gb] middle finger, that's an [Am] A minor bar chord.
What you can do is you can just pop your pinky up.
[E] Which is essentially when you have that E [Em] minor, making it an E minor [E] 7.
So another [Am] voicing here is [C] 5, 7, 5, [Am] 5, 5, 5.
Now, that can be kind of difficult.
It depends on the action of your guitar and stuff.
It can be kind of hard to hold down all this stuff.
So another really good one is this right here.
Essentially the same thing, but we're just kind of cutting out the A string.
So I have 5 [D] E.
I'm skipping [C]
the A string.
And you notice if I play it [D] like this with my middle finger,
my middle finger is naturally resting and muting the A string so I [Gm] can't hear it.
Because if it were to hold it down, [A] that's what it sounds like.
[F] That's not a minor 7 chord.
We have a D in that.
We don't want a D [Am] there.
So, right here I'm getting [B] 5, skipping the A string, [C] muting the A string.
5, 5, [Am] 5.
So, you can kind of do like a little root chord thing with this here.
Like, [B] there's A minor 7 to A [Bbm] sharp or B flat minor 7.
[B] B.
[Cm] [Am]
So, another good voicing right here.
If we ever wanted to root it on the D string, a third voicing for a minor 7,
we would just find this A, we'd get [Ebm] octave down.
[A] 1, 2, 3, [G] 4, 5, 6, [A] 7, 8.
And root it right here with an A.
We're going to make a [E] power chord, but we're going to make it [A] with our pinky.
[E] And then [C] get these two.
[B] Pretty cool voicing right here.
[A] So I've got [E] 7, D, 9, [Eb] G, 8 [Am] and 8 on B and E.
So we've got three voicings so far.
We have an open A, A string root voicing.
Or, same thing, an E string root voicing.
And then we have a D string root voicing.
[Bb] Okay?
And again, we have an arpeggio that goes with this.
So we can replace.
Any time there's an A [Am] minor, [Bbm] we can replace it with one of these other voicings.
And the [A] arpeggio is as here.
[C] [A]
[Em] 1, 3, [A] 5, 7 octave.
If we wanted to [Bb] go across two octaves of this, it's [Am] really easy.
[C] [A] The second octave would [C] be
[Bb] So, the frets on the strings would be [Am] 5, 8, 7, 5, [Ab] 7, 5, [G] 5, [A] 8, 5.
But the shape is more important than the frets.
[G] Because if we wanted to root it on a different one,
if we wanted to do a [D] D, right [Bb] here, the 10th fret,
we could just do the [D] same shape.
[Bb] [D] [N] Okay?
And these can replace chords.
Now we know how to make a minor 7.
When do you use a minor 7 chord or shape?
And the beauty of minor 7 chords, no matter what key you're in,
if it's a minor chord, it can be turned in to a minor 7 chord.
Now, the formula would be like in any key, right?
Like say you're in the key of C major.
There's 7 notes.
C, D, E, F, G, A, B.
Whatever.
The first, fourth, and fifth notes in that key become major chords.
The second, third, and sixth chords become minor chords.
If that just blew your mind, you don't know what that means,
there's another link in the description on basic music theory
and how to use the notes in a scale to make chords.
But if you understand that the second, third, and sixth chords, or notes,
in a scale become minor chords,
then turning them into minor 7 chords is just one note extended beyond that.
So, let's just take the key of C, for example.
We have 7 [Gb] notes.
C, D, E, F, G, A, B.
On a guitar it would be C, [G] D, E, [Gbm] F, G, [B] A, [C] B.
And another C.
Now the second note in the key of C [D] is a D.
[Gm] The third note [E] is an E.
[F] [G] The fourth is F, the [A] fifth is G, and the sixth note is [Bb] A.
So there are 3 minor chords in the key of C.
[Am] A minor being the [Em] 6th, E minor being the [D] 3rd, and D minor being the 2nd.
Now, I'm sure you probably already [Am] know those chords.
A minor, [Em] E [Dm] minor, G minor.
Now, within the rules of music theory, any of those,
[N] if you added the next, the 7th number from that first number in the key,
would give you a minor 7 chord.
So, any time you see a minor chord, you can replace it with a minor 7 chord or arpeggio.
For example, let's use some of the shapes we already learned.
So we've got A minors, [Am] open A minor.
Let's replace that with this.
So instead of going, [Em]
[Dm] [Am]
that [Abm] was an A minor, E minor, D minor, A minor [Am] progression.
We could replace that with this A minor.
[E] Instead of going to this E minor, we could find the E on the A string, [Gbm] the 7th fret.
[Em] [Am] So we've got A minor.
[D] [Em] [Dm] Move that back to D.
[Am]
[G] Now, if you notice, I just replaced [A] the whole chord with a little [G] arpeggio run.
I didn't even do anything [A] fancy.
I just went [C] up, 1, 3, 5, [A] 7, [Gm] octave, and back.
[Am] So instead of [Em] [B] A, E, [A] G, A, [Am] we've got A minor 7.
[Bb] [Em]
[Dm] Back to D, [Am] arpeggio.
[D] [Em]
[Am] [Dm] [Am]
[E] [C] [A]
[Bb] There you go.
Minor 7 chords, shapes.
Use them, abuse them, do whatever you want.
There it is.
[N]
Key:
Am
A
C
Em
E
Am
A
C
If you've ever wondered where minor 7 chords [Am] come from, _ _ _ _ they come from here, [N] deep in here.
If you've ever wondered how to make minor 7 chords and where to use them, you have come to the right place.
Because today it's all about minor 7.
Now, two of the probably most common minor 7 chords you'll ever [Am] see are A minor being [B] turned into [Am] an A minor 7,
_ _ [Em] by just lifting your ring finger up, or E minor _ being turned into an E minor 7.
_ _ So [N] you might think that minor 7 means you just kind of take something away from a chord, but no!
That is not true, we're actually adding something.
And the definition is, we are adding the 7th note of the minor scale to [Am] a minor chord.
So, what I mean by that, and that's what I'm going to use as an example, is going to be the key, or the scale of A minor.
If you don't know how to come about the scale of A minor, there is a link to a video in the description that maybe you should watch first.
But, we're going to start right here, on the 5th fret of the E string.
Now the shape to make A minor is this.
[B] 5, [C] 7, [D] 8, [E] [F] 5, [Ab] 7, 8, [A] 5, 7.
Now the notes [Bb] there are going to [A] be [B] A, B, [C] [D] C, [E] D, [Bb] E, F, [A] G, and A.
[N] It's not necessary that you know the names of the notes, it helps a lot, but we're going to number them.
So instead of just A, B, C, D, E, F, G, A, [A] it's going to be 1, [Bb] 2, 3, [F] 4, 5, [Bb] 6, [A] 7, 8.
That means we can use these same rules and techniques and everything on any [Gm] single note.
It doesn't have to be an A, it could be a G.
1, 2, 3, [G] 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
Those are going to be different notes, [Am] but all the same stuff is going to apply.
So, to make a minor chord, first of all, we take the A, we take the 3rd note in the [B] scale, [Am] which [C] is a C, A, C.
We're going to [Bm] take the 5th note, 1, 2, 3, [E] 4, 5, there's an E.
[A]
[C] We have [E] A, a C, an E.
Now we're going to [Gm] add the 7th [Em] note.
In this case, [Bb] A, B, C, D, [Em] E, F.
7 is [A] G, so [C] A, [Em] C, E, G.
In fact, before we do the shapes, [Bb] let's actually just look at this as an arpeggio.
We can always [Am] replace an A minor chord with an A minor arpeggio.
[C] _ _
_ [A] _ And another A, so [C] A, C. _
_ _ _ [Am] _ _ Any combination of those four notes is going to give you an A minor 7 chord.
So, let's learn some different voicings set on different strings.
Now again, here's the most common one right here.
An [G] A minor chord with an open [Am] G string. _
Now, that's great for A minor, but what if we wanted to make a B minor?
You can't really just move it down two frets [D] like this.
_ Instead of a cool chord, not technically a B [E] minor.
We would need to take the open [G] notes with us.
So, where open would [Am] be on G and A in this shape,
to move it down to a [Bm] B, we'd have to root here and make it here.
So this shape might be really familiar with you for like a B minor.
_ _ B minor [Cm] 7.
_ C minor, C [Dbm] minor 7. _
So the root [C] note is [A] going to be on the A string in this [Am] particular voicing.
_ _ _ [E] Now, another really good one is if you root it on the E string.
[Am] So, the fifth fret _ on the E string is an A.
Now, you may be used to a bar chord like this.
Without your [Gb] middle finger, that's an [Am] A minor bar chord.
What you can do is you can just pop your pinky up. _ _ _
[E] Which is essentially when you have that E [Em] minor, _ making it an E minor [E] 7.
So another [Am] voicing here is [C] 5, 7, 5, [Am] 5, 5, 5. _
Now, that can be kind of difficult.
It depends on the action of your guitar and stuff.
It can be kind of hard to hold down all this stuff.
So another really good one is this right here.
_ Essentially the same thing, but we're just kind of cutting out the A string.
So I have 5 [D] E.
I'm skipping [C]
the A string.
And you notice if I play it [D] like this with my middle finger,
my middle finger is naturally resting _ and muting the A string so I [Gm] can't hear it.
Because if it were to hold it down, _ [A] that's what it sounds like.
[F] That's not a minor 7 chord.
We have a D in that.
We don't want a D [Am] there.
So, _ right here I'm getting [B] 5, skipping the A string, [C] muting the A string.
5, 5, [Am] 5.
_ _ So, you can kind of do like a little root chord thing with this here.
Like, _ _ _ _ _ [B] there's A minor 7 to A [Bbm] sharp or B flat minor 7.
_ [B] B.
_ [Cm] _ _ [Am]
So, another good voicing right here. _ _
_ If we ever wanted to root it on the D string, a third voicing for a minor 7,
we would just find this A, we'd get [Ebm] octave down.
[A] 1, 2, 3, [G] 4, 5, 6, [A] 7, 8.
And root it right here with an A.
We're going to make a [E] power chord, but we're going to make it [A] with our pinky. _ _
[E] And then [C] get these two. _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [B] Pretty cool voicing right here.
[A] So I've got _ [E] 7, D, 9, [Eb] G, 8 [Am] and 8 on B and E.
_ _ So we've got three voicings so far.
We have an open A, A string root voicing. _ _ _ _
Or, same thing, an E string root voicing.
And then we have a D string root voicing. _
_ _ [Bb] Okay?
_ And again, we have an arpeggio that goes with this.
So we can replace.
Any time there's an A [Am] minor, _ _ _ _ [Bbm] we can replace it with one of these other voicings.
And the [A] arpeggio is as here.
[C] _ _ [A] _
_ [Em] 1, 3, [A] 5, 7 octave.
If we wanted to [Bb] go across two octaves of this, it's [Am] really easy.
[C] _ _ [A] The second octave would [C] be_ _
_ [Bb] _ _ _ So, the frets on the strings would be [Am] 5, 8, 7, 5, [Ab] 7, 5, [G] 5, [A] 8, _ 5.
But the shape is more important than the frets.
[G] Because if we wanted to root it on a different one,
if we wanted to do a _ _ [D] D, right [Bb] here, the 10th fret,
we could just do the [D] same shape.
_ [Bb] _ [D] _ _ _ [N] Okay?
And these can replace chords.
Now _ we know how to make a minor 7.
When do you use a minor 7 chord or shape?
And the beauty of minor 7 chords, no matter what key you're in,
if it's a minor chord, it can be turned in to a minor 7 chord.
_ Now, the formula would be like in any key, right?
Like say you're in the key of C major.
There's 7 notes.
C, D, E, F, G, A, B.
Whatever.
The first, fourth, and fifth _ _ notes in that key become major chords.
The second, third, and sixth chords become minor chords.
If that just blew your mind, you don't know what that means,
there's another link in the description on basic music theory
and how to use the notes in a scale to make chords.
But if you understand that the second, third, and sixth chords, or notes,
in a scale become minor chords,
then turning them into minor 7 chords is just one note extended beyond that.
So, let's just take the key of C, for example.
We have 7 [Gb] notes.
C, D, E, F, G, A, B.
On a guitar it would be C, [G] D, E, [Gbm] F, G, [B] A, [C] B.
And another C.
Now the second note in the key of C [D] is a D.
[Gm] The third note [E] is an E.
[F] _ [G] The fourth is F, the [A] fifth is G, and the sixth note is [Bb] A.
So there are 3 minor chords in the key of C.
[Am] A minor being the [Em] 6th, E minor _ being the [D] 3rd, and D minor _ _ being the 2nd.
Now, I'm sure you probably already [Am] know those chords.
A minor, [Em] _ E [Dm] minor, G minor.
Now, within the rules of music theory, any of those,
[N] if you added the next, the 7th number from that first number in the key,
would give you a minor 7 chord.
So, any time you see a minor chord, you can replace it with a minor 7 chord or arpeggio.
_ For example, let's use some of the shapes we already learned.
So we've got A minors, [Am] open A minor.
Let's replace that with this.
So instead of going, _ _ _ [Em] _ _ _
_ [Dm] _ _ _ _ [Am] _ _
that [Abm] was an A minor, E minor, D minor, A minor [Am] progression.
We could replace that with this A minor. _ _
_ [E] Instead of going to this E minor, we could find the E on the A string, [Gbm] the 7th fret.
[Em] _ _ [Am] So we've got A minor.
_ [D] _ [Em] _ _ [Dm] Move that back to D.
_ _ [Am] _ _ _ _ _ _
[G] _ Now, if you notice, I just replaced [A] the whole chord with a little [G] arpeggio run.
I didn't even do anything [A] fancy.
I just went [C] up, 1, 3, 5, [A] 7, [Gm] octave, and back.
[Am] So instead of [Em] [B] A, E, [A] G, A, [Am] we've got A minor 7.
[Bb] _ [Em] _ _
_ [Dm] Back to D, _ [Am] arpeggio. _
_ _ _ _ [D] _ _ [Em] _ _
_ [Am] _ [Dm] _ _ [Am] _ _ _ _
_ [E] _ _ [C] _ _ [A] _ _ _
_ _ _ [Bb] There you go.
Minor 7 chords, shapes.
Use them, _ _ abuse them, do whatever you want.
There it is.
_ [N] _ _ _ _
If you've ever wondered how to make minor 7 chords and where to use them, you have come to the right place.
Because today it's all about minor 7.
Now, two of the probably most common minor 7 chords you'll ever [Am] see are A minor being [B] turned into [Am] an A minor 7,
_ _ [Em] by just lifting your ring finger up, or E minor _ being turned into an E minor 7.
_ _ So [N] you might think that minor 7 means you just kind of take something away from a chord, but no!
That is not true, we're actually adding something.
And the definition is, we are adding the 7th note of the minor scale to [Am] a minor chord.
So, what I mean by that, and that's what I'm going to use as an example, is going to be the key, or the scale of A minor.
If you don't know how to come about the scale of A minor, there is a link to a video in the description that maybe you should watch first.
But, we're going to start right here, on the 5th fret of the E string.
Now the shape to make A minor is this.
[B] 5, [C] 7, [D] 8, [E] [F] 5, [Ab] 7, 8, [A] 5, 7.
Now the notes [Bb] there are going to [A] be [B] A, B, [C] [D] C, [E] D, [Bb] E, F, [A] G, and A.
[N] It's not necessary that you know the names of the notes, it helps a lot, but we're going to number them.
So instead of just A, B, C, D, E, F, G, A, [A] it's going to be 1, [Bb] 2, 3, [F] 4, 5, [Bb] 6, [A] 7, 8.
That means we can use these same rules and techniques and everything on any [Gm] single note.
It doesn't have to be an A, it could be a G.
1, 2, 3, [G] 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
Those are going to be different notes, [Am] but all the same stuff is going to apply.
So, to make a minor chord, first of all, we take the A, we take the 3rd note in the [B] scale, [Am] which [C] is a C, A, C.
We're going to [Bm] take the 5th note, 1, 2, 3, [E] 4, 5, there's an E.
[A]
[C] We have [E] A, a C, an E.
Now we're going to [Gm] add the 7th [Em] note.
In this case, [Bb] A, B, C, D, [Em] E, F.
7 is [A] G, so [C] A, [Em] C, E, G.
In fact, before we do the shapes, [Bb] let's actually just look at this as an arpeggio.
We can always [Am] replace an A minor chord with an A minor arpeggio.
[C] _ _
_ [A] _ And another A, so [C] A, C. _
_ _ _ [Am] _ _ Any combination of those four notes is going to give you an A minor 7 chord.
So, let's learn some different voicings set on different strings.
Now again, here's the most common one right here.
An [G] A minor chord with an open [Am] G string. _
Now, that's great for A minor, but what if we wanted to make a B minor?
You can't really just move it down two frets [D] like this.
_ Instead of a cool chord, not technically a B [E] minor.
We would need to take the open [G] notes with us.
So, where open would [Am] be on G and A in this shape,
to move it down to a [Bm] B, we'd have to root here and make it here.
So this shape might be really familiar with you for like a B minor.
_ _ B minor [Cm] 7.
_ C minor, C [Dbm] minor 7. _
So the root [C] note is [A] going to be on the A string in this [Am] particular voicing.
_ _ _ [E] Now, another really good one is if you root it on the E string.
[Am] So, the fifth fret _ on the E string is an A.
Now, you may be used to a bar chord like this.
Without your [Gb] middle finger, that's an [Am] A minor bar chord.
What you can do is you can just pop your pinky up. _ _ _
[E] Which is essentially when you have that E [Em] minor, _ making it an E minor [E] 7.
So another [Am] voicing here is [C] 5, 7, 5, [Am] 5, 5, 5. _
Now, that can be kind of difficult.
It depends on the action of your guitar and stuff.
It can be kind of hard to hold down all this stuff.
So another really good one is this right here.
_ Essentially the same thing, but we're just kind of cutting out the A string.
So I have 5 [D] E.
I'm skipping [C]
the A string.
And you notice if I play it [D] like this with my middle finger,
my middle finger is naturally resting _ and muting the A string so I [Gm] can't hear it.
Because if it were to hold it down, _ [A] that's what it sounds like.
[F] That's not a minor 7 chord.
We have a D in that.
We don't want a D [Am] there.
So, _ right here I'm getting [B] 5, skipping the A string, [C] muting the A string.
5, 5, [Am] 5.
_ _ So, you can kind of do like a little root chord thing with this here.
Like, _ _ _ _ _ [B] there's A minor 7 to A [Bbm] sharp or B flat minor 7.
_ [B] B.
_ [Cm] _ _ [Am]
So, another good voicing right here. _ _
_ If we ever wanted to root it on the D string, a third voicing for a minor 7,
we would just find this A, we'd get [Ebm] octave down.
[A] 1, 2, 3, [G] 4, 5, 6, [A] 7, 8.
And root it right here with an A.
We're going to make a [E] power chord, but we're going to make it [A] with our pinky. _ _
[E] And then [C] get these two. _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [B] Pretty cool voicing right here.
[A] So I've got _ [E] 7, D, 9, [Eb] G, 8 [Am] and 8 on B and E.
_ _ So we've got three voicings so far.
We have an open A, A string root voicing. _ _ _ _
Or, same thing, an E string root voicing.
And then we have a D string root voicing. _
_ _ [Bb] Okay?
_ And again, we have an arpeggio that goes with this.
So we can replace.
Any time there's an A [Am] minor, _ _ _ _ [Bbm] we can replace it with one of these other voicings.
And the [A] arpeggio is as here.
[C] _ _ [A] _
_ [Em] 1, 3, [A] 5, 7 octave.
If we wanted to [Bb] go across two octaves of this, it's [Am] really easy.
[C] _ _ [A] The second octave would [C] be_ _
_ [Bb] _ _ _ So, the frets on the strings would be [Am] 5, 8, 7, 5, [Ab] 7, 5, [G] 5, [A] 8, _ 5.
But the shape is more important than the frets.
[G] Because if we wanted to root it on a different one,
if we wanted to do a _ _ [D] D, right [Bb] here, the 10th fret,
we could just do the [D] same shape.
_ [Bb] _ [D] _ _ _ [N] Okay?
And these can replace chords.
Now _ we know how to make a minor 7.
When do you use a minor 7 chord or shape?
And the beauty of minor 7 chords, no matter what key you're in,
if it's a minor chord, it can be turned in to a minor 7 chord.
_ Now, the formula would be like in any key, right?
Like say you're in the key of C major.
There's 7 notes.
C, D, E, F, G, A, B.
Whatever.
The first, fourth, and fifth _ _ notes in that key become major chords.
The second, third, and sixth chords become minor chords.
If that just blew your mind, you don't know what that means,
there's another link in the description on basic music theory
and how to use the notes in a scale to make chords.
But if you understand that the second, third, and sixth chords, or notes,
in a scale become minor chords,
then turning them into minor 7 chords is just one note extended beyond that.
So, let's just take the key of C, for example.
We have 7 [Gb] notes.
C, D, E, F, G, A, B.
On a guitar it would be C, [G] D, E, [Gbm] F, G, [B] A, [C] B.
And another C.
Now the second note in the key of C [D] is a D.
[Gm] The third note [E] is an E.
[F] _ [G] The fourth is F, the [A] fifth is G, and the sixth note is [Bb] A.
So there are 3 minor chords in the key of C.
[Am] A minor being the [Em] 6th, E minor _ being the [D] 3rd, and D minor _ _ being the 2nd.
Now, I'm sure you probably already [Am] know those chords.
A minor, [Em] _ E [Dm] minor, G minor.
Now, within the rules of music theory, any of those,
[N] if you added the next, the 7th number from that first number in the key,
would give you a minor 7 chord.
So, any time you see a minor chord, you can replace it with a minor 7 chord or arpeggio.
_ For example, let's use some of the shapes we already learned.
So we've got A minors, [Am] open A minor.
Let's replace that with this.
So instead of going, _ _ _ [Em] _ _ _
_ [Dm] _ _ _ _ [Am] _ _
that [Abm] was an A minor, E minor, D minor, A minor [Am] progression.
We could replace that with this A minor. _ _
_ [E] Instead of going to this E minor, we could find the E on the A string, [Gbm] the 7th fret.
[Em] _ _ [Am] So we've got A minor.
_ [D] _ [Em] _ _ [Dm] Move that back to D.
_ _ [Am] _ _ _ _ _ _
[G] _ Now, if you notice, I just replaced [A] the whole chord with a little [G] arpeggio run.
I didn't even do anything [A] fancy.
I just went [C] up, 1, 3, 5, [A] 7, [Gm] octave, and back.
[Am] So instead of [Em] [B] A, E, [A] G, A, [Am] we've got A minor 7.
[Bb] _ [Em] _ _
_ [Dm] Back to D, _ [Am] arpeggio. _
_ _ _ _ [D] _ _ [Em] _ _
_ [Am] _ [Dm] _ _ [Am] _ _ _ _
_ [E] _ _ [C] _ _ [A] _ _ _
_ _ _ [Bb] There you go.
Minor 7 chords, shapes.
Use them, _ _ abuse them, do whatever you want.
There it is.
_ [N] _ _ _ _