Seventh chords can be realized in various ways. They may be inverted or stacked in thirds.
Once you’ve mastered root position, move on to first and second inversions of chords. Be mindful of any interval between bass note and root note of chord.
Root position
Root position of a seventh chord refers to its bass note being in the lowest place, and then having all other notes stacked above it – for instance a G major seventh chord would consist of G in its lowest place with D and F above it stacked as chord tones.
Seventh chords are less stable than triads and their inversions can add interest and complexity to a composition. Their inversions can also create different flavors and textures within music as well as keeping rhythm moving forward by creating falling-fifth or rising-fourth root motion.
To identify an inversion of a seventh chord, search for Arabic numerals below the bass note. The lowest number will indicate how far from the bass it is to the next lowest note in the chord while middle number indicates how far from there to your desired seventh chord note it is.
First inversion
A first inversion seventh chord contains its root note at its lowest note with additional notes stacked above, usually three (with possibly five or seven depending on the type of seventh chord) above it. When in first inversion is reached, all five or seven notes (depending on its type) sit stacked upon it with three (a 3rd) beneath and five or seven above (depending on its type) as above notes.
Labelling seventh chords uses Roman numerals similar to triads; therefore I7 stands for C major seventh chord and Mm7 minor seventh chord etc.
Additionally, we add a number to indicate the chord’s inversion; so for a seventh chord in first inversion it would have notes written I7/6/5 while second inversion would use I7/4/3 notes; this is because dominating seventh chords always contain an interval of Harmonic Second due to lower notes being on one side and higher notes always being on the opposite.
Second inversion
Chords in second inversion feature their root, third and fifth notes stacked above the bass note; for seventh chords this means their fourth and fifth tones have been reduced by one scale degree, making these chords less stable than their root position counterparts; they do however resolve down by a step similarly to triads do.
Learn to read Roman numeral notation to recognize inversions of closed seventh chords by first learning Roman numeral notation – this will enable you to identify the intervals that make up each chord and will enable you to identify their inversions more quickly. Once this skill has been acquired, practice recognising chords using their chord-symbol and figured bass notations notations.
Never forget that a seventh chord contains three or more triads, and that its quality depends on which triad it’s built from. M (for major) and m (for minor) are two conventions for these chord qualities that you should learn to identify by looking at symbols on a figured bass; they provide an effective way of distinguishing different types of seventh chords within one key.
Third inversion
Inversions involve placing chord notes within closed spacing. Whatever their inversion may be, seventh chords always contain an interval of a dominant seventh (the fifth note of the scale).
Quality in seventh chords can be determined by the first letter of each triad and seventh. They may have major, minor, or diminished qualities.
Identification of inversions is vitally important, as this knowledge will give you the knowledge required to understand how a seventh chord works within a progression. To do this, first determine which triads make up your chord and stack them accordingly in thirds.
As is typically the case with seventh chords, seventh chords typically resolve by means of either falling-fifth or rising-fourth root motion. For instance, in a ii6/5 chord the seventh will resolve into V chord with root five tone lower; this process is known as “descending passing tone resolution”. Similar methods apply when dealing with other types of seventh chords.