Am7 Chord

The minor triad is A-C-E. Add G a minor seventh above A to get A-C-E-G. The formula is 1-flat 3-5-flat 7: a minor third and a minor seventh around an unchanged perfect fifth. The flats in this formula refer to scale-degree distances. They do not require a flat sign in every chord spelling.

A-C-E-G uses only white keys. Add G to a familiar A minor triad and listen to the wider, less final four-note sound.

Keep all four note names and lift the lowest note by an octave to get each new position:

The letter after the slash in a chord symbol tells a player which note belongs in the bass, if a particular bass is required. A bass instrument can change the overall lowest note while the keyboard hand keeps the same shape. Read Chord Inversions for that distinction.

It is the ii7 chord in G major. Play Am7-D7-Gmaj7 slowly and listen to how the middle chord makes the last chord feel like an arrival. You can play the same notes of Am7 in other keys or styles; the ii label applies only when G is the tonal center. The chord notes alone do not tell you which key a whole song is in.

Keep A, E and G; raise only the minor third C by one semitone to C sharp. That creates A7, a dominant-seventh chord. Play both at the same volume and listen to the changed third before deciding which feels more tense. The two symbols are easy to confuse in print: the m in Am7 changes the triad, while a plain 7 leaves the triad major. Minor Seventh Chord shows the formula across other roots.

Play the minor triad, add G, then remove it again. Sing that changing note while the other three keys stay down. Next, play the progression Am7-D7-Gmaj7 with the chord roots in your left hand and compact right-hand shapes. Slow, audible changes teach you more than repeating the names from memory.