Am7 guitar chord
An open string left ringing against a fretted grip. Because it costs no finger, it sounds a note the closed shape has none left for -- a tension on top, or a pedal root underneath. Either a familiar grip with open strings added, or a shape so sparse the open strings carry the chord. These belong to their key rather than to a shape, so D, A, G and E have many and Eb a handful.
- Tap a note to hear it
- Arrows change position
- Fingers, notes or intervals
- Play the chord
About Am7 — open string voicings
Am7 is A, C, E and G — Am with the flat seventh added.
It sounds smooth and unhurried. The ii of every major key, so most progressions you already know begin on one of these.
Am7 notes and formula
| A | C | E | G |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ♭3 | 5 | ♭7 |
Pre-dominant — the ii of a major key, and a tonic in its own right.
Also written Amin7, A-7 or A minor 7. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play Am7
An open string left ringing against a fretted grip. It costs no finger, so it can sound a note the closed shape has none left for: a tension on top, or a pedal root underneath.
These belong to their key rather than to a shape: they cannot be moved up the neck. D, A, G and E have many; E♭ has a handful.
Am7 has 6 of them, on strings 6-5-4-3-2-1, strings 6-5-4-3-2 and strings 6-4-3-2-1, from the 2nd fret up to the 5th — every inversion the chord has: A in the bass, E in the bass and G in the bass. The one to learn first is the G shape at the 2nd fret, which is the easiest grip here.
3 of them sit on strings 6-5-4-3-2-1, so you can run the inversions up one set without changing strings — which is the whole reason to learn them as a family rather than as separate grips.
Start with x02010 — no barre and 3 open strings. 2 of the 9 shapes here sit in open position. 2 of the 9 need a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 1st fret to the 15th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| x02010 | open position | A, root position | E | 3 open strings |
| x02213 | open position | A, root position | G | 1 open string |
| xx2213 | 1st fret | E, 2nd inversion | G | all fretted |
| 575555 | 5th fret | A, root position | A | barred |
| xx7988 | 7th fret | A, root position | C | all fretted |
| x-12-10-12-10-x | 10th fret | A, root position | A | all fretted |
| x-12-10-12-13-x | 10th fret | A, root position | C | all fretted |
| x-12-14-12-13-12 | 12th fret | A, root position | E | barred |
| x-x-14-14-13-15 | 13th fret | E, 2nd inversion | G | all fretted |
The same notes rebuilt from scratch give 7 shell, 15 drop 2 and 10 drop 3 voicings, each on its own page.
Tensions. A shell of Am7, root, third and seventh, leaves a string free, and the tones that belong over it are the 9 (B), the 11 (D) and the 13 (F#).
How to use Am7
How you get to it. The turn that lands on Am7 is Bm7♭5 to E7♭9: the ii and the V of A minor, which is where a minor tonic is usually arrived at rather than simply begun on.
In which keys. Every note of Am7 belongs to C major (the vi), D minor (the v), E minor (the iv), F major (the iii), G major (the ii) and A minor (the i).
What to play over Am7
Every note of Am7 is in A minor pentatonic, A blues, A dorian, A natural minor and A phrygian.
Chords near Am7
Change one note of Am7 and you have Am (drop the flat seventh), Am6 (the flat seventh becomes a sixth), Am7b5 (the fifth becomes a flat fifth), Am9 (add the ninth), AmMaj7 (the flat seventh becomes a major seventh) or Amadd9 (the flat seventh becomes a ninth).
Am7 is a minor chord — root, minor third, fifth. Minor chords on every root.
On Am7’s sound and use this page follows Mark Levine, The Jazz Theory Book (Sher Music, 1995). The shapes and the derived voicings come from different places, and both are explained in where the chords and the theory come from.