Chord & FretA#m7 · Cavaquinho
A#m7 is A#m with its shoulders down: the same serious subject, told calmly. Tap the player below and hear the change in tone of voice.
Listen first
What you just heard
The recipe: take the A#m you know — A#, C#, F — and add G# on top. Play the arpeggio again, no rush and wait for the fourth note. It doesn't make the chord happy; it takes the weight off its shoulders. That's why bossa nova, neo-soul and the whole of R&B live here.
Now it's your hands' turn
On the cavaquinho, four steel strings tuned D–G–B–D pack the chord into a small, bright space — every finger counts. So start with the first position below — the position marked with ⭐ is the easiest to play. Four notes sharing the same space, so there's one rule: every single one has to ring. Go note by note, like checking signatures. A muffled chord here is a double waste.
1 more shape of this chord on the neck
That's over 200,000 voicings and inversions in Chord & Fret Pro, ready to play.
Precision Tuner — Before you play these shapes, get in tune — chromatic tuner and reference tones · use it in Chord & Fret
Mid-neck positions are the favorites of anyone backing a singer: they leave the treble free for the voice. File it away for that day.
Left-handed? Mirror's right here
What is A#m7?
A#m7: A# minor with Seventh. The notes are A#, C#, E#, G# (fixed-do: La#, Do#, Mi#, Sol#) — the degrees 1–b3–5–b7.
Where this chord lives
Now the part beginners rarely get told: A#m7's classic job is being the ii — the first piece of the ii–V–I, the most-used sentence in jazz and everything jazz ever touched. Across keys you'll find it as v7 in D# minor, i7 in A# minor, ii7 in G# major. In other words: this chord is almost never standing still; it's setting something up.
Transpose & Capo — Need it in another key? Move the whole chart and find the easiest capo · try it in Chord & Fret
Identify Chord — Found a shape on your own fretboard? The app names it back · open in Chord & Fret
Where it tends to go
Treating A#m7 as the home chord (I) of its key, it usually moves toward the pre-dominant (Cm / Eb) or the dominant (F / A°) — and the dominant pulls back home. Typically, not a rule.
When you want to go further
For improvising, A# Dorian (A# B# C# D# E# F## G# · 1 2 b3 4 5 6 b7: the minor scale with a major sixth — the minor that smirks); A# Aeolian (A# B# C# D# E# F# G# · 1 2 b3 4 5 b6 b7: the natural minor, the major scale's relative sibling); A# Dorian ♭2 (A# B C# D# E# F## G# · 1 b2 b3 4 5 6 b7: a dorian with a lowered second) contain the whole chord. And the jazz shapes at the bottom are these same four notes rearranged across the neck: same chord, arranger's polish.
A# Dorian
4 more scale positions on the neck
That's over 35,000 mapped scale shapes in Chord & Fret Pro, ready to play.
The same A# Dorian in its main shapes along the neck — pick whichever position sits under your hand. The rings mark the guide notes (the 3rd and 7th) that carry this chord's color.
Improvising in context
To improvise over A#m7 as home, the A# Aeolian scale fits entirely — it contains every note of the chord. And when the dominant (F) pulls back, the leading tone A is the note that wants to resolve home.
Swaps that work:
- Dbmaj7 — Relative major (♭III)
- Eb7 — It's the ii; resolves to this V
Reharmonize — Want richer substitutions? Reharmonize the progression in a tap · see it in Chord & Fret
The same chord, dressed for jazz
Jazz Lab — Drop 2, drop 3 and shell in any key — the Jazz Lab opens them all · try it in Chord & Fret
Remember I said it's setting something up? This is it: D#7. Play A#m7 → D#7 and you've just built half a ii–V — the gear that's been turning jazz for a hundred years.
Every shape of A#m7 lives in Chord & Fret Pro — 4 instruments, 16 tunings, 41 chord types and 57 scales, in every key. Start free. Unlock everything with Pro. 100% offline. Free to start, no card needed.