Abm7 guitar chord
Root, third and seventh: the guide tones fix the quality, so the fifth is dropped. That is what leaves a string free, so pick a tension to put on top.
- Tap a note to hear it
- Arrows change position
- Fingers, notes or intervals
- Play the chord
About Abm7 — shell voicings
Abm7 is Ab, Cb, Eb and Gb — Abm 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.
Abm7 notes and formula
| Ab | Cb | Eb | Gb |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ♭3 | 5 | ♭7 |
Pre-dominant — the ii of a major key, and a tonic in its own right.
Also written Abmin7, Ab-7 or Ab minor 7. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play Abm7
Root, third and seventh. The third and seventh, the guide tones, are what make the chord major, minor or dominant, so the fifth can go: it says nothing the symbol needs.
Three notes means a spare string, which is the real point. Put a tension on it.
Abm7 has 5 of them, on the bottom three strings, the low-middle three, strings 6-4-3 and strings 5-3-2, from the 2nd fret up to the 11th — all in one inversion, so the bass note never moves. The one to learn first is the Ab shape at the 2nd fret, which is the easiest grip here.
Start with xx6877 — no barre. None of the shapes for Abm7 uses an open string, so every one of them is movable; the lowest sits at the 4th fret. 2 of the 6 need a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 4th fret to the 14th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 464444 | 4th fret | Ab, root position | Ab | barred |
| xx6877 | 6th fret | Ab, root position | Cb | all fretted |
| x-11-9-11-9-x | 9th fret | Ab, root position | Ab | all fretted |
| x-11-9-11-12-x | 9th fret | Ab, root position | Cb | all fretted |
| x-11-13-11-12-11 | 11th fret | Ab, root position | Eb | barred |
| x-x-13-13-12-14 | 12th fret | Eb, 2nd inversion | Gb | all fretted |
The same notes rebuilt from scratch give 14 drop 2 and 9 drop 3 voicings, each on its own page.
Tensions. A shell of Abm7, root, third and seventh, leaves a string free, and the tones that belong over it are the 9 (Bb), the 11 (Db) and the 13 (F).
How to use Abm7
How you get to it. The turn that lands on Abm7 is Bbm7♭5 to Eb7♭9: the ii and the V of Ab minor, which is where a minor tonic is usually arrived at rather than simply begun on.
In which keys. Every note of Abm7 belongs to C# minor (the v), Eb minor (the iv), E major (the iii), F# major (the ii), Ab minor (the i) and B major (the vi).
What to play over Abm7
Every note of Abm7 is in Ab minor pentatonic, Ab blues, Ab dorian, Ab natural minor and Ab phrygian.
Chords near Abm7
Change one note of Abm7 and you have Abm (drop the flat seventh), Abm6 (the flat seventh becomes a sixth), Abm7b5 (the fifth becomes a flat fifth), Abm9 (add the ninth), AbmMaj7 (the flat seventh becomes a major seventh) or Abmadd9 (the flat seventh becomes a ninth).
Abm7 is a minor chord — root, minor third, fifth. Minor chords on every root.
On Abm7’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.