The D sharp minor 7 chord (D#m7) a D# minor chord (D# – F# – A#) with the ‘flat 7’ of the D# Major scale included (C#).
The minor 7 chord in general is a very common and popular chord. Along with the Major 7 and Dominant 7 chords, the minor 7 chord is one of the most common 7th chords in all of music.
The D#m7 chord is essentially the same physical chord as the Ebm chord. In fact, Ebm7 is referred to more often than D#m7. D sharp minor 7 does get used however, mainly depending on the chords around it. In the key of A Major, for example, the 3rd chord is technically C#m7, not Ebm7.
Another kind of peculiar thing about the D#m7 chord is that the flat 3rd of the chord is an ‘F#’. This intuitively feels wrong, because it doesn’t immediately seem obvious that a ‘flat 3rd’ could indeed be a sharp. The reason why this happens is that the 3rd note of the D sharp Major scale is actually F double sharp (Fx). When a double sharp note gets ‘flattened’ (lowered by one semitone) it simply becomes a sharp.
Some Quick D#m7 Chord Theory
- The D sharp minor 7 chord contains the notes D#, F#, A# and C#.
- The D#m7 chord is produced by playing the 1st (root), flat 3rd, 5th and flat 7th of the D sharp Major scale.
- The D sharp minor 7 chord (just like all minor 7 chords) contains the following intervals (from the root note): minor 3rd, Major 3rd, minor 3rd, Major 2nd (back to the root note).
- D#m7 is a D#m chord, with the flat 7th (C#) included.
10 Ways To Play The D Sharp Minor 7 Chord
If you’ve come to this page just to view some chord diagrams for D#m7, here they are.
Further Reading
- A guide to minor 7 chords
- D sharp natural minor scale
- D# minor 7 arpeggio
- D# minor chord
- Chords page
- How guitar chords work
