Lesson 15 · All 12 keys

Minor 7th Chord Trainer

Learn how a minor 7th chord is built one semitone-count at a time — a minor triad plus a minor 7th on top — then put it to work with two MIDI exercises: playing all 12 minor 7th chords around the circle of fourths, and a natural-minor four-chord progression built entirely from minor 7th chords, in every key.

How a minor 7th chord is built

A minor 7th chord is a 4-note chord — a minor triad with one more note stacked on top. Every minor 7th chord — in any of the 12 keys — is built the exact same way, by counting semitones to the right from a root note:

  1. Start on the root — the note that names the chord.
  2. Count 3 semitones to the right to land on the minor 3rd.
  3. From there, count 4 more semitones to the right (7 semitones from the root) to land on the perfect 5th.
  4. From there, count 3 more semitones to the right (10 semitones from the root) to land on the minor 7th.
Example — E minor 7th (Em7): start on E, count 3 semitones right to reach G, 4 more to reach B, then 3 more to reach D. E‑G‑B‑D is the Em7 chord. The pattern 3, 4, 3 (10 semitones total from root to top) is what makes a chord "minor 7th" — every one of the 12 minor 7th chords is this same shape, just moved to start on a different key.
Compare this to a dominant 7th chord, which counts 4, 3, 3 instead — a minor 7th chord simply lowers that major 3rd by one more semitone, turning the whole chord from restless (dominant 7th) to warm and settled. It's the chord a major scale naturally builds on its 2nd, 3rd, and 6th scale degrees (ii7, iii7, vi7), and it's the mellow, resolved-sounding cousin of the dominant 7th you just met.

Try it: pick a root and build the chord step by step

Step 1 of 4
—
Chord toneNoteSemitones from rootMIDI #

All 12 minor 7th chords at a glance

ChordRoot+3 semitones → 3rd+4 semitones → 5th+3 semitones → ♭7th

This MIDI exercise plays all 12 minor 7th chords, one after another, moving around the circle of fourths — each chord's root sits a perfect 4th (5 semitones) above the last one: C → F → B♭ → E♭ → A♭ → D♭ → G♭/F♯ → B → E → A → D → G → back to C. Every chord is played as a full 4-note minor 7th (root, 3rd, 5th, and minor 7th together).

Chord 1 of 12
—

The 12 chords, in circle-of-fourths order

#ChordRoot3rd5th♭7th

Loading…

Key of C
—

Progression in C

DegreeChordNotes