What is the minor seventh interval?
The minor seventh spans ten semitones, or five whole steps, creating an interval that sits just below the octave. When you play C and B♭ together, you hear this characteristic sound—close enough to feel connected, yet far enough to create gentle tension. Unlike a major second (its inversion), the minor seventh spreads wide across the staff, making it easier on the ear and perfect for extended harmonies. Composers reach for this interval whenever they want sophistication without harshness, depth without drama.
In traditional harmony the minor seventh functions as a chord tone in dominant seventh chords, minor seventh chords, and half-diminished sonorities. Stack C–E–G–B♭ and you build a C7, the workhorse of jazz and blues. Replace the major third with E♭ and you get Cm7, the foundation of ii-V-I progressions in minor keys. This versatility makes the minor seventh one of the most frequently heard intervals in contemporary music, appearing in everything from gospel choir voicings to funk bass lines.
The role of minor seventh in jazz harmony
Jazz musicians live and breathe the minor seventh interval, using it to construct the extended chords that define the genre. The classic ii-V-I progression in C major—Dm7, G7, Cmaj7—showcases how the minor seventh (C above D) in the Dm7 chord creates smooth voice leading into the dominant G7. This progression appears in countless standards such as "Autumn Leaves" and "All The Things You Are," where the minor seventh interval softens the harmonic motion and allows for fluid improvisation.
Modal jazz takes the minor seventh even further. In Dorian mode, the minor seventh above the root (C above D in D Dorian) defines the scale's characteristic flavor. Miles Davis exploited this sound in "So What," building entire sections around Dm7 and Em7 chords that sustain the minor seventh interval for extended periods. Contemporary jazz voicings often stack minor sevenths in fourths—D–G–C–F—creating the open, modern sound heard in Bill Evans's comping and McCoy Tyner's dense left-hand clusters.
- ii-V-I progressions: The minor seventh appears in the ii chord (Dm7 in C major) and defines the progression's smooth voice leading
- Modal harmony: Extended vamps over minor seventh chords create the foundation for modal improvisation
- Quartal voicings: Stacking minor sevenths in fourths produces the open, ambiguous sound of modern jazz piano
- Blues substitutions: Adding the minor seventh to major triads creates the dominant seventh sound essential to twelve-bar blues
Blues and soul applications
The minor seventh interval defines the sound of blues and soul music, appearing in nearly every dominant seventh chord that drives these genres forward. When B.B. King bends a note on his guitar from the major sixth up to the minor seventh, he's tapping into the interval's expressive power—that sweet spot between resolution and tension that makes blues melodies sing with emotion. Gospel pianists voice dominant chords with the minor seventh prominently in the top voice, creating the characteristic church sound that influenced everyone from Ray Charles to Aretha Franklin.
Blues scales themselves feature the minor seventh as a crucial color tone. In a C blues scale (C–E♭–F–G♭–G–B♭–C), that B♭ natural functions as both a blues note and the minor seventh above the tonic. When horn sections play riffs in soul and R&B, they frequently harmonize melodies using parallel dominant seventh chords, stacking minor seventh intervals to create thick, powerful textures. This sound appears everywhere from James Brown's funk arrangements to the Memphis soul recordings of Stax Records, where minor seventh intervals add warmth and groove to every arrangement.
Training your ear to recognize minor sevenths
Learning to identify the minor seventh by ear takes focused practice, but a few memorable references make the process easier. The opening interval of "Somewhere" from West Side Story leaps up a minor seventh from "There's" to "a place," giving you an instant melodic anchor. The descending minor seventh appears in the phrase "no place like home" from "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" when Dorothy sings those words. Singing these phrases while playing the interval on your instrument helps cement the sound in your musical memory.
Practice mapping minor sevenths across the keyboard by playing them from each scale degree in major and minor keys. In C major, play C–B♭, D–C, E–D, and continue through all twelve chromatic positions. Next, embed the interval inside chord progressions—play a Dm7 to G7 movement and focus on how the C (minor seventh above D) resolves down by step to the B (major third of G7). Finally, improvise short phrases over a D Dorian vamp, deliberately landing on the C (minor seventh) before resolving to other chord tones, so your ear and fingers internalize the interval's function and flavor.
Minor seventh in composition and songwriting
Songwriters use the minor seventh interval to add sophistication to chord progressions without overwhelming the melody. A simple I–vi–IV–V progression in C major (C–Am–F–G) transforms when you extend those chords to seventh voicings (Cmaj7–Am7–Fmaj7–G7). The minor seventh intervals in the Am7 and G7 chords create forward motion while maintaining a smooth, radio-friendly sound. This approach appears in countless pop and soul ballads, where extended harmonies support emotional lyrics without calling attention to themselves.
In film scoring and ambient music, composers sustain minor seventh intervals over pedal tones to create floating, unresolved textures. Hold a low D while layering C above it, and you generate an open, contemplative atmosphere perfect for scenes requiring introspection or mystery. Modal composers like Debussy and Ravel exploited this quality, using minor seventh intervals to escape functional harmony and explore color and mood. Contemporary producers in neo-soul, lo-fi hip-hop, and indie genres continue this tradition, building entire tracks around the warm, jazzy character that minor seventh intervals naturally provide.