Minor seventh

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minor seventh

Inverse	major second
Name
Other names	-
Abbreviation	m7
Size
Semitones	10
Interval class	2
Just interval	16:9, 9:5, or 7:4
Cents
Equal temperament	1000
Just intonation	996, 1018, or 969

A minor seventh is the smaller of two commonly occurring musical intervals that span seven diatonic scale degrees. The prefix 'minor' identifies it as being the smaller of the two (by one chromatic semitone), its larger counterpart being a major seventh. The minor seventh is abbreviated as m7 and its inversion is the major second. Its most common occurrence is built on the root of the prevailing key's dominant triad, producing the all-important dominant seventh chord.

A minor seventh in just intonation most often corresponds to a pitch ratio of 9:5 or 1:1.8, or various other ratios, while in an equal tempered tuning it is a ratio of 1:2^10/12 (approximately 1.781), or 1000 cents, 17.596 cents shorter.

The minor seventh is considered a mildly dissonant interval, more dissonant than the thirds and sixths, but considerably less dissonant than the minor second and major seventh.

See also:

• musical tuning
• list of meantone intervals

Diatonic intervals	edit
Perfect : unison (0) | fourth (5) | fifth (7) | octave (12)
Major : second (2) | third (4) | sixth (9) | seventh (11)
Minor : second (1) | third (3)| sixth (8) | seventh (10)
Augmented : unison (1) | second (3) | third (5) | fourth (6) | fifth (8) | sixth (10) | seventh (12)
Diminished : second (0) | third (2) | fourth (4) | fifth (6) | sixth (7) | seventh (9) | octave (11)
semitones of equal temperament are given in brackets

[edit] External links

• Tonalsoft Encyclopaedia of Tuning