Sevenths
D♭ minor-major 7th chord
Mysterious and cinematic — think spy-movie themes.
- Notes
- D♭F♭A♭C
- Formula
- 1♭357
- Built from
- root · minor 3rd · perfect 5th · major 7th
How to play D♭m(maj7)
About the D♭ minor-major 7th chord
Playing it
On guitar, D♭m(maj7) has an open-position shape, x42110, using four fingers alongside the open strings. Don’t strum the low E string.
On piano, D♭m(maj7) has two black keys (D♭ and A♭) and two white keys.
On ukulele the usual D♭m(maj7) shape is 1004, using two fingers.
Related chords
Take away the root and the other three notes form F♭aug (F♭ A♭ C) — so you can think of D♭m(maj7) as F♭aug with D♭ added underneath.
Move a single note and D♭m(maj7) becomes a different chord: drop the C for D♭m, raise F♭ to F for D♭maj7, lower C to C♭ for D♭m7 and swap C for B♭ for D♭m6.
Where you’ll hear it
Notice the F♭ in D♭m(maj7) (D♭ F♭ A♭ C): each note of the chord takes its own letter (D–F–A–C), so the minor 3rd has to be written F♭ rather than E — the same key on a piano, spelled to fit the chord.
