Once you are comfortable with major and minor triads (3-note chords), it’s time to explore 7th chords; these add much more variety and flavor than standard triads to the music that you create.
There are various types of 7th chords, but we will focus on just one here – Dominant Sevenths.
Dominant Seventh
Chords are an integral component of music and it’s crucial that as musicians we are acquainted with all types of chords and their various sounds.
Dominant seventh chords can add tension to any progression. Made up of both major and minor chords, their sound makes them distinct – it is essential that musicians understand them fully!
Major seventh chords commonly built upon the fifth scale degree in any key are commonly known as V7 chords (where V stands for 5th scale degree of that key).
Carl Perkins’ “Blue Suede Shoes” and Muddy Waters’ “Blues Before Sunrise” both use dominant seventh chords throughout their progressions to give it its distinctive, bluesy sound. Acquainting yourself with these chord shapes will enable you to craft unique blues progressions of your own.
Major Seventh
Major seventh chords can be approached from various perspectives. One approach is to treat them like triads with the addition of the seventh note from the scale, while another approach sees them as moveable shapes that can be moved around up and down the neck to create different qualities of chords.
Triads make it easy to transform many open chords into major 7th chords. Just drop your right thumb down one step from C major triad for an immediate Cmaj7 chord, or shift it all up an octave for Cmaj9.
To determine the quality of a 7th chord, simply count the intervals between its root, 3rd and 5th notes, as well as its 7th note. This number will then determine its name; so far we’ve explored minor, major and dominant seventh chords but there are plenty more types out there; next time around we’ll cover augmented, diminished and half-diminished seventh chords as well.
Minor Seventh
A minor seventh chord consists of a diminished triad with an inverted fifth interval on top, creating a melancholic sound and adding depth and emotion to your progressions.
Construction: C minor (C – Eb – G) x 3 + F#minor x 5 + B Flat minor 7th chord Gb Bb B The minor seventh is often called an Amin7 chord or min75 chord.
These chords have a more assertive and assertive sound than dominant seventh chords and are immensely popular in jazz, R&B, and Blues music. They offer an easy way to add flair and drama to your musical composition; just barre across two strings on the guitar! Furthermore, these chords tend to appear more frequently within harmonic minor scales as well.
Half-Diminished Seventh
Diminished seventh chords can add drama and tension to your guitar comping skills. Additionally, they can be utilized within arpeggios and chord melodies for creating more dramatic atmosphere.
Dim7 chords are symmetrical – that means the same shape can be used on all strings at once. For instance, this first diminished chord can be played as either a Cdim7 on all strings, but also played as either Bm7b5 on low E string or Adim7 on high E string depending on string groupings.
Diminished chord notes all feature their own individual interval qualities that determine its overall sound; similarly for inversions.
Note that lowering any note in a diminished seventh chord by half-step results in the creation of a Dominant Seventh chord; this is because diminished chords consist of four minor third intervals.