In
classical music from
Western culture, a
seventh is a
musical interval encompassing seven
staff positions, and the
minor seventh is one of two commonly occurring sevenths. It is qualified as
minor because it is the smaller of the two: the minor seventh spans ten
semitones, the
major seventh eleven. For example, the interval from A to G is a minor seventh, as the note G lies ten semitones above A, and there are seven staff positions from A to G.
Diminished and
augmented sevenths span the same number of staff positions, but consist of a different number of semitones (nine and twelve).