Dm7 Chord on Guitar, Piano and Ukelele [D minor 7th Chord] How to Play it

The D minor 7th chord (Dm7) is built from a root note (D), a minor third (F), a perfect fifth (A) and a minor seventh (C):

Dm7 chord [Musical explanation]

The D minor seventh chord is a tetrad with formula 1 – ♭3 – 5 – ♭7. Therefore, to build it we need D (1), F (♭3), A (5) and C (♭7):

This is due to the fact that a minor seventh chord is made up of 3 third intervals:

If we apply this principle to the Dm7 chord we obtain that:

Thus, this confirms that D minor seventh chord is defined by:

Root (D) – Minor Third (F) – Perfect Fifth (A) – Minor Seventh (C)

To sum up, in order to build the Dm7 chord we need to add the minor seventh (flat 7th) to the D minor chord.

Dm7 Guitar Chord

The Dm7 chord guitar has the following shape on the fretboard:

Let’s analyze in detail this chord diagram above to make sure that we understand how to play the Dm7 on guitar.

Let’s start by analyzing the 2 circles in blue, which indicate that on the strings 3 (G), 2 (B) and 1 (E) we have to place the fingers 2 (middle) and 1 (index) making a barre that stretches over the strings one and two.

Note by the way the number 1 in black on the left that indicates on which fret we start playing the chord.

On the other hand, at the top we see that we have the characters:

X X D  A  C  F

This simply means that in the:

And at the bottom we find the numbers:

1  5 ♭7  ♭3

This indicates that in the:

⚠️ Important: it is not mandatory to memorize all this information to play the Dm7 chord on guitar. But it is highly recommended to know it in order to understand the musical theory behind each chord.

Other ways to play the D minor 7 guitar chord

In addition to the diagram shown at the beginning of the article, we can also find the Dm7 chord in the following fretboard positions:

Dm7 chord inversions

The 3 inversions of the D minor 7th chord are:

Dm7 Ukulele Chord

Here you can see as well the Dm7 uke chord diagram:

Dm7 Piano Chord

To play the Dm7 chord on piano we only need to find the same music notes on its keys:

Third Inversión (Dm7/C)

Music scales in which the D minor 7th chord can be found

• C major scale (harmonized with 7th chords)
  • Cmaj7 Dm7 Em7 Fmaj7 G7 Am7 Bm7♭5
• A# major scale (harmonized with 7th chords)
  • A#maj7 Cm7 Dm7 D#maj7 F7 Gm7 Am7♭5
• F major scale (harmonized with 7th chords)
  • Fmaj7 Gm7 Am7 B♭maj7 C7 Dm7 Em7♭5
• D natural minor scale (harmonized with 7th chords)
  • Dm7 Em7♭5 Fmaj7 Gm7 Am7 B♭maj7 C7
• A natural minor scale (harmonized with 7th chords)
  • Am7 Bm7♭5 Cmaj7 Dm7 Em7 Fmaj7 G7
• G natural minor scale (harmonized with 7th chords)
  • Gm7 Am7♭5 B♭maj7 Cm7 Dm7 E♭maj7 F7
• A harmonic minor scale (harmonized with 7th chords)
  • Am(maj7) Bm7♭5 Cmaj7#5 Dm7 E7 Fmaj7 A♭dim7
• C melodic minor scale (harmonized with 7th chords)
  • Cm(maj7) Dm7 E♭maj7#5 F7 G7 Adim7 Bm7♭5

Dm7 Chord PDF

If you liked this lesson and want to download it in PDF click here below:

Array