Dm7

D1F♭3A5C♭7

Minor triad with a minor seventh. The same four notes as a major sixth chord a third above.

on guitar on piano the scale

Every fingering that fits a hand

Fig. 2

x213

easy · no 5

Fig. 3

7988

hard

Fig. 4

7585

hard · no 5

Fig. 5

7588

hard · no 5

Fig. 6

758x

easy · no 5

What is true of it

Dm7 is D, F, A and C — 1, b3, 5 and b7 counted from D.

These are also the notes of F6/D. Which name is right depends on what is underneath and what came before — the notes alone do not decide.

On an instrument that cannot reach all 4, the 5 goes first, in that order.

The easiest of the 5 fingerings below is x213: 3 fingers, held at the 1st fret.

None of them uses an open string, so this chord moves up the neck unchanged — the same shape 1 fret higher is the chord a semitone above.

It leaves out the 5. 4 strings cannot carry 4 notes, and the 5 is the one this chord can lose without changing what it is.

1 string stays silent.

Where its notes are on the neck

Fig. 7 — first 12 frets

The brass dots are D, the root. Everything else is a chord tone with its degree printed in it.

With a different note underneath

first inversion

Dm7/F

acac

second inversion

Dm7/A

2213

third inversion

Dm7/C

5555

An inversion is the same chord with a different note lowest. The name changes to a slash name because the bass is what a listener hears as the foundation.

D in other shapes

D7dominant seventh Dmaj7major seventh Dm(maj7)minor major seventh Dmajor Dmminor Ddimdiminished

Cm7 C♯m7 D♭m7 D♯m7 E♭m7 Em7 Fm7 F♯m7 all 374