Minor 7th Chords

Music Theory Quadad Chord Theory (4 Note Chords)
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The next Quadad we'll explore is the Minor 7 chord!


View the full lesson at Minor 7th Chords | JustinGuitar

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I’ve got a question which is not related directly to the min7 chords but I find it a suitable starting point for my reasoning.

Sometimes I read Wikipedia articles on certain songs, and some of these articles include information on chord progressions and harmony as well. Today I read the article on Not Guilty by The Beatles and found this bit in it:

Musicologist Walter Everett highlights the song’s musical form as an example of “the composer’s typically outlandish chord juxtapositions”, which in this case reveals “a new level of sophistication similar to jazz methodology”. He says that while E minor is the main key, A minor is tonicised in the start of the verses and is further suggested with a surprising G–Dm8–Dm7–E7 chord sequence. Following the final chord in that sequence, he hears the Gm chord as “confident and loudly protesting”, and contextually derived via an “unprecedented use of mixture from the Phrygian mode (thus the chord’s B♭ [note]) into A pentatonic minor”.

The Dm8 chord made me think of min7 chords. According to the lesson, min7 chords contain R b3 5 b7. A Dmin7 chord has the notes D-F-A-C. Consequently, a Dmin8 would contain D-F-A-C#.

However, would this chord not be called a minor major 7th chord? Or, if “Dm8” in the above quote suggests a doubling of the root note, wouldn’t that be just a Dm chord?

I’m only at the stage of the 7th chords, but so far we’ve never talked about min8, add8 or similar “8th” chords.

Sorry if this is not really related to this lesson, but the designation of the chord is somewhat confusing for me.

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@Jozsef I think that Dm8 is a typo. I did some searching and the chord progression in question is Dm7 Dm6 E7. I’ve never hear of any chord with an 8 in it. The only explaination I could possibly come up with would be the Root of the parent Scale with would be F Major, this would make the chord in question a Dm. So no need for an 8 designation.

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Thanks for your reply. Later on I also thought it may have just been a typo in the quote as I don’t have the original text.

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Dm8 is certainly a typo.

The 8th degree is an octave of the root.
To name any chord with an 8 in it is nonsensical.

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