The second most common type of
chord in
music. It consists of a
root tone, the note a
minor third above it, and the note a
major third above the second note. It also makes up the first, third, and fifth
degrees of the
minor scale. Notated by appending a lowercase "m" to the root tone; e.g., the C minor chord would be represented as Cm. There are other, less common ways to represent minor chords (Cminor, Cmin, c (the lowercase of the root tone)).
The notes included in the minor chord for each note:
NAME | TONES
-----+------------
Cbm |Cb Ebb Gb
Cm |C Eb G
C#m |C# E G#
Dbm |Db Fb Ab
Dm |D F A
D#m |D# F# A#
Ebm |Eb Gb Bb
Em |E G B
E#m |E# G# B#
Fbm |Fb Abb Cb
Fm |F Ab C
F#m |F# A C#
Gbm |Gb Bbb Db
Gm |G Bb D
G#m |G# B D#
Abm |Ab Cb Eb
Am |A C E
A#m |A# C# E#
Bbm |Bb Db F
Bm |B D F#
B#m |B# D# Fx
(where bb =
double flat, b =
flat, and # =
sharp.)
Any of these chords can be inverted, or spelled out in a different order. The root position of a minor chord uses the first tone first, the first inversion uses the second tone first, and the second inversion uses the third tone first. For example, the root position of the A minor chord can be spelled A-C-E, the first inversion can be spelled C-E-A, and the second inversion can be spelled E-A-C.
Some chords created by adding tones to the minor chord are the minor seventh chord, minor major seventh chord, minor ninth chord, minor major ninth chord, minor sixth chord, or minor added ninth chord.
cf. major chord, diminished chord, augmented chord