Nobody is going to argue that a C7 is not the same as a Cm7. I was assuming that when Jaledin talked about the m7, he was simply talking about the minor seventh interval from the tonic of the chord, not the naming convention for the chord itself. A dominant seventh chord is a major triad with an m7 slapped on top of it. I don’t really see any problem with his terminology. He’s using it as you defined it in the first definition you gave for an m7.
Yeah, that’s true. But if it doesn’t have a dominant function, in functional harmony, I’d call it a major triad with a m7 added. Am I wrong – you can probably play rings around me, and it’s been a long time since I studied theory except for browsing through books looking for ideas?
I’m obsessively wedded to the idea of a dom7 chord playing the resolving role of a dominant, which clearly it does not in your average blues tune, except when turning around to top of form. A "dom"7 chord forms the basis of its own tonality, which can’t really be explained in major/minor functional harmony, IMO. Don’t mean to be a pisser, just something I’ve always had in the back of the mind. Think Bird on “Blues For Alice” – IIRC – which uses a major chord as the tonic, with maj7 added as well, but it’s still (kind of) a blues.
Whoops, had minor on the brain…and I even said it’s not the same thing, and then typed THE SAME THING! Thanks for the catch.
I understand what he and you are saying. My thing is the semantics in how he used it. He is using “m7” as a scale degree, whereas I use b7 to identify the scale degree of the note in the chord and m7 to name the interval. Each to his own.
Missed the edit window…
One reason I use that naming convention is to not confuse my students. I don’t want them to think that a Cm7 is a C with [what you are calling] a m7 or C7 has a M7 in it. You guys get it, but to make it crystal clear to them, I use scale degrees with flats and sharps rather than m and M. It’s a system that works well for beginning musicians. It also adds consistency when naming chords with notes such as b5s, b9s, #9s, etc.
E7#9 = Purple Haze chord 
I’m not sure what you mean here. If you build chords diatonically based on the harmonic minor scale (as opposed to the natural minor scale), the raised seventh is what makes the five chord a V7 rather than a v7 - it effects the third. For instance, in the key of A minor, using the natural minor scale would give you the notes A - B - C - D - E - F - G - A. The five chord would be E - G - B - D = Em7. By using the harmonic minor scale A - B - C - D - E - F - G# - A, the five chord would be E7 (E - G# - B - D). This resolves better to an Am7 (using the natural minor scale) than to a AmMaj7 (using the harmonic minor scale). Is this what you were getting at? Any typos to catch, pulykamell? 
Oh, I’m sure your students are smart enough. After all, you don’t seem to be worried that they will think Cb7 means C with a flatted seventh, do you?
(Personally, I do usually refer to scale tones using your b/# convention rather than specifying intervals as perfect, major, minor, augmented, or diminished.)
And, no typos on your part to report, but I did misspell “dyslexia” in my post above.
Unfortunately I teach at a special needs high school so I need to make everything as non-confusing as possible. While working with a student today, I noticed another reason why I use this method - I use it when teaching different scales. It makes sense to use the same system for building chords. HOWEVER, you and Jaledin have made me think about this, and I will probably incorporate that notation into my lessons by saying “some people will refer to these scale degrees using m, M, etc”, much like when I teach a m7b5 chord (“it is also referred to as a half-diminished chord and uses this symbol Ø, but some people don’t like to call it that because it doesn’t function as a diminished chord, blah blah blah…”
Eric Johnson - Cliffs of Dover
G Major, I believe.
Of course you’re right – the leading tone back to the i tonic. In the model key of Cm, that’s be the B natural, the leading tone.
I think I prefer saying b7 than m7 too – didn’t think it would make a difference, but I see that could be confusing and is probably a kind of odd convention, the way I said it. I do seem to recall, though, that only thirds and minor degrees have the “right” to be called major or minor, but I haven’t studied theory for a while in any kind of academic way.
Well, within the octave, seconds, thirds, sixths and sevenths can all come in major or minor flavors, and would be correctly referred to as such…under some circumstances there would be another (enharmonic) name that would more correct (e.g. diminished seventh vs. major sixth).
multiple post
Fly By Night, by Rush, is notably majorish – even the solo, except for a couple of blue notes.
Also Child of the Moon, by the Stones.
Really, a lot of songs in D. They tend to have a somewhat folky feel, rather than being straight-up rock. New Test Leper by REM is another example.
A more rockin’ example by REM that’s mostly really major is What’s the Frequency Kenneth. Or, any of the Ramones songs that partly inspired it.
Didn’t know that. I know intervals can be described willy-nilly, and who hasn’t heard of a major 6th interval? I guess my information might be outdated already (I’m 35, but only started getting serious [again] at piano in 2006 or so, after a childhood dominated by [by choice – I wanted to get that badass classical and ragtime down] by some serious teachers and a few counterpoint/theory classes [never my strong suit until I started with jazz and hit the analysis pipe pretty hard]).
You’re probably thinking of the major and minor third defining whether a chord has major or minor tonality in tertian harmony (that is, harmony that is based on thirds, rather than fourth or fifths.)
Maybe. You wouldn’t call a fourth a major or minor, though, or even a second, right? Raised or Lowered is the way I picked it up for a second interval. I swear to Christ I’m not making it up! I heard it somewhere. !!!
“Major” and “minor” just mean small and big in this context. It is used in reference to the second, the third, the sixth, and the seventh. So, yes, there is a “minor second” and a “major second.”
Here’s a chart of the intervals via Wikipedia. TT=tri-tone, aka “augmented fourth” or “diminished fifth,” depending on context.
