Once you’ve mastered beginner chords, the next step should be learning 7th chords to add variety and sound when playing songs.
Songs by Freddie King such as “I’m Tore Down” and Elmore James such as “The Sky Is Crying” both use dominant seventh chords but have very distinct tempos and feel.
Major
The major scale features three sharps in its key signature, and C major is one of the most often-used keys for pop music, providing access to chords, melodies, and basslines that feature distinctively different chord progressions and basslines.
Position two can be identified by its root-note pattern that connects back to position 1 via frets 4 and 5, but can still be learned by memorizing and noting how each position interacts with its neighboring positions.
A dominant seventh chord is constructed using a major triad and diminished seventh, creating a blues-based sound with its bluesy sound and ability to resolve to another chord (e.g. tonic), or it may remain suspended to add suspenseful feel in movie soundtracks and movie scores. You can hear this chord being used by Thelonius Monk and Miles Davis among many other performers.
Minor
As is usually the case, the minor scale resembles its major counterpart but contains different patterns of whole and half notes, giving it a darker, gloomier tone commonly used to evoke feelings of sorrow or sadness in music.
Starting from natural minor, C-A-C-D-E-F-G, we will add major and minor sevenths until we achieve harmonic minor, C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C. Furthermore, melodic minor will comprise C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C-A.
The minor major seventh is an extremely versatile chord that can be played on any minor key, often referred to as the “Hitchcock chord” due to its use in Bernard Hermann’s landmark film Psycho. Comprised of both minor triad and dominant seventh chord elements, it produces an easygoing sound suitable for jazz music as well as other genres including traditional pop, easy listening and bossa nova music styles. Also noted as Erik Satie used it extensively when writing Gymnopedie No 1 by using its chord components.
Dominant
This scale can add interesting alterations over a dominant 7th chord, though care must be taken due to the natural 13 interval. As its b9 and #9 alterations make resolving back to the root difficult, take time before using this scale in your playing.
Minor key contexts provide the ideal setting for this scale to shine, as it accentuates tension notes b9 and #9.
This scale is also great for creating that unmistakable Lydian dominant sound – often heard in popular songs with bridges from Rhythm Changes tunes.
Extended
An extended scale is an effective way to become familiar with additional notes on the fretboard, particularly important when creating chord progressions and transcribing songs from favorite musicians.
Extended chords follow the same principles as major and minor triads, yet add extra notes from above and below the seventh note in the scale. There are no hard rules about which notes should be included when creating extended chords; typically it’s best to follow your song’s key to determine what notes to include.
Extended chords can be played two different ways; using your index finger or pinky, depending on personal preference. To get optimal results, practice each finger until they become muscle memory; this will enable you to form chord progressions quickly while opening up melodies naturally over these chords.