No matter if you are learning blues, jazz or rock chord progressions – 7th chords should form part of your chord vocabulary. They add another layer of nuanced sound compared to simple triad chords.
All of the 7th chord diagrams below are moveable – meaning you can move them up or down the fretboard to create different chord qualities. This allows you to experiment with various kinds of seventh chords until you find one you enjoy playing!
Dominant 7th Chords
Dominant 7th chords are an integral component of tonal musical styles ranging from Mozart symphonies and top 40 pop, to solo jazz guitar. To build them, add one or more lower seventh scale degree chords to any major triad.
Harmonically speaking, a dominant seventh chord can be described as a V chord which transitions through voice leading into an I chord via its notes moving stepwise between chords. Due to its flattened seventh tone and more dissonant sound than that of major triad chords, dominant seventh chords tend to sound stronger and more forceful than major triad chords.
Once you understand the basics of an E major chord, learning an open C dominant seventh chord shape should be straightforward. Simply remove your third finger from D string and add Bb. Strum all six strings to hear how different it sounds; or switch it out for F instead for an alternate C7 chord option.
Major 7th Chords
Addition of a major 7th to a major triad produces a chord characterized by its dreamy, romantic quality – popularly used in pop, rock and bossa nova music genres.
Building a major 7th chord begins by choosing its root note and moving through its scale until we reach its seventh note – wherein lies its quality as determined by its interval between first, third and seventh notes.
For help identifying note intervals, the Scale Chord Summary offers a useful table displaying note intervals. First step should be identifying the root note; next determine the distance in half-tones/semisonortnes between it and its nearest note (e.g. G to F# equals three semitones).
CAGED system makes this possible. Below are two open position voicings and two barre chord shapes (movable shapes) of a major 7th chord on guitar; these voicings may be moved around the neck for other major 7th chords.
Minor 7th Chords
This lesson will show you how to play minor 7th chords on guitar. Minor 7th chords have an unusual sound that adds extra tension to songs.
Minor 7th chords are constructed like major triads with the addition of a minor seventh interval, creating something special without necessarily sounding either happy or sad. They provide the opportunity to add emotion without oversaturating a song with too many positive or negative notes.
This lesson’s movable min7 shapes use no open strings and are freely movable up and down the fretboard to construct different chords of equal quality. Their root determines their name as well as where they reside on the fretboard.
As an example, moving shape 1 up to the third fret creates an Fm7 chord; by taking this action up to the seventh fret it forms an Amin7 chord – making it possible to quickly switch between different minor voicings on the fretboard.
Inverted 7th Chords
As with triads, seventh chords can also be inverted to create inverted tonality – this means the bass note will be placed above all other notes in the chord. A major seventh chord in root position will consist of an E in the bass with G and B stacked above it; this voicing is known as 7/5/3 in figured bass notation wherein 3 represents lowest figure and 5 represents highest figure.
To invert a chord, take the initial note and move it up an octave so it becomes the last note in its inverted state – this results in a new chord which should then be played according to standard seventh chord rules. Knowing how to invert seventh chords will broaden your musicality, increase creativity and allow for the creation of more complex melodies – begin by practicing root position chords before slowly working your way towards different inversions of major, minor and dominant seventh chords.