D# Minor 7th (D#m7)

Also written as Eb Minor 7th (Eb and D# are the same key).

Download MIDI
1+b3+5+b7
D#1F#2A#3C#5
4 4

Notes in D# Minor 7th

D# (root)F#A#C#

Inversions

Same notes as D# Minor 7th, with a different chord tone as the lowest note. Useful for smoother movement between chords instead of jumping around the keyboard.

Root position

D# in the bass

D#1F#2A#3C#5

1st inversion

F# in the bass (D#m7/F#)

F#1A#2C#4D#5

2nd inversion

A# in the bass (D#m7/A#)

A#1C#2D#3F#5

3rd inversion

C# in the bass (D#m7/C#)

C#1D#2F#3A#5

Open voicings

A close-position chord like D# Minor 7th can sound cluttered in the middle of the keyboard. Jazz players open it up by dropping one note down an octave, spreading the same notes wider without changing the chord.

Drop 2

A# on the bottom

A#3D#1F#2C#5

Drop 3

F# on the bottom

F#2D#1A#3C#5

Press D#, F#, A# and C# together on the keyboard and you're playing D# Minor 7th.

Add a minor seventh to a minor triad and the chord's sharper edges soften. It reads as less dramatic than a plain minor chord but more colorful, and it's the backbone of the jazz ii chord in a huge number of ii-V-I progressions, along with most of soul and funk's chord vocabulary.

Difficulty: Intermediate. Category: Seventh chords. Click any highlighted key on the diagram above, or tab to it and press Enter, to hear that single note. Inversions mark the bass note with a contrasting outline.