Sevenths
D♭ minor 7th chord
Smooth and soulful; a staple of jazz, R&B and funk.
D♭m7 is the ii7 chord in B major, iii7 in A major and vi7 in E major. In minor keys: i7 in C♯ minor and iv7 in G♯ minor.
- Notes
- D♭F♭A♭C♭
- Formula
- 1♭35♭7
- Built from
- root · minor 3rd · perfect 5th · minor 7th
How to play D♭m7
About the D♭ minor 7th chord
Playing it
On guitar, D♭m7 has an open-position shape, x42400, using three fingers alongside the open strings. Don’t strum the low E string.
On piano, D♭m7 has two black keys (D♭ and A♭) and two white keys.
On ukulele the usual D♭m7 shape is 1102, using three fingers.
Related chords
Take away the root and the other three notes form F♭ (F♭ A♭ C♭) — so you can think of D♭m7 as F♭ with D♭ added underneath.
D♭m7 contains exactly the same notes as E6. Which name fits depends on which note is in the bass and what key you’re in.
Move a single note and D♭m7 becomes a different chord: drop the C♭ for D♭m, raise F♭ to F for D♭7, lower C♭ to B♭ for D♭m6 and swap F♭ for G♭ for D♭7sus4.
Where you’ll hear it
You’ll find D♭m7 in common progressions such as C♯m7–F♯7–Bmaj7 (the jazz cadence in B major).
Notice the F♭ in D♭m7 (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.
