Chords Mastery, Vol. 2 - 7th Chords
How to play major 7th, dominant 7th, minor 7th, minor 7th(b5) and diminished 7th chords
The Lessons So Far
Introduction
In this lesson, we shall be discussing the 5 different types of 7th chords that exist in music. We shall be learning how to play them on piano and guitar. In short, these chords consist of adding a variation of the 7th note of the major scale on top of a major, minor or diminished triad.
We shall be looking this in terms of stacking thirds on top of each other, as it seems easier to understand. If you have any questions, feel free to ask them in the comments and I shall answer them.
So, let’s begin.
Major 7th Chords
These chords (notated as maj7) consist of 4 different notes and are obtained by playing a major triad on top of which you add another major third.
Visually, this looks something like this:
This is what it would look like on a music sheet:
And on your guitar, there are multiple ways in which you can play it:
Musically, they can replace major chords formed on the 1st and 4th notes of a major scale or the 3rd and 6th notes of the minor scale. In my mind, they sort of sound like a musical sigh, and they add a bit of tension to your playing. But not the very intense one.
I use them a lot because of the incomplete mood they sorta put a song in if you’d like. Try to play around with them to see where they could fit.
Now, let’s move on to the next one.
Dominant 7th chords
Dominant 7th chords (notated as 7) also consist of 4 different notes and they are obtained by playing a major triad on top of which you add a minor third.
Visually, this looks something like this:
Here’s what they look like on a musical sheet:
And here’s how you can play them on guitar:
Musically, they can be formed on the 5th note of the major scale or the 7th note of the minor scale. They sound quite tense, and when playing them they usually feel the need to be followed by the root chord of the scale.
In other words, if you play a G7, musically you will feel the desire to follow it up with a C chord or an Am chord, something to relieve the tension a bit.
With this now wrapped up, let’s move on to the next 7th chord type.
Minor 7th Chords
Minor 7th chords (notated as m7) consist of 4 notes and are obtained by playing a minor triad on top of which you add a minor third.
Visually, this is what it looks like:
This is what they look like on a music sheet:
And here’s how you can play them on your guitar:
Musically, they can be formed on the 2nd, 3rd and 6th notes of the major scale or the 1st, 4th and 5th notes of the minor scale. They add a bit of flavour to your playing, though I always associated it to like a funk or pop/R&B one. I find myself incorporating them from time to time, though not as often.
They have a very distinct sound at least to my ear, and they’re fairly easy to intersperse in your songwriting because, unlike dominant 7th chords, they are not as obstrussive or strong. But they can “season“ your rhythm sections quite well.
Let’s move on to the next one now.
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Now, back to the show.
Minor 7th (b5) Chords
Minor 7th flat five chords (notated as m7(b5)) consist of 4 notes and are obtained by playing a diminished triad on top of which you add a major third.
Visually, this is what they look like:
Here’s how they look like on a music sheet:
And here’s how you can play them on your guitar:
Musically, they can be played on the 7th note of the major scale or the 2nd note of the minor scale, and I like to think of them as the less-tense variant of a diminished chord. They add a very interesting feel to your rhythm sections, thanks to the diminished triad.
But I also feel that the major third added on top of it softens the tense feel quite a bit, making them a bit easier to incorporate in your songs. In my mind, I associate them with jazzy feels for some reason. Might be work checking them out to see if they fit your song’s vision.
With that said though, let’s move on to something much more tense…
Diminished 7th Chords
Diminished 7th chords (notated as dim7) are a bit of an anomaly, mostly thanks to how music theory is constructed. They consist of 4 notes and are obtained by playing a diminished triad on top of which you add a minor third.
Visually, they look like this:
Nothing out of the ordinary so far, right? Well, it’s about to get weird. And it’s all because of how music theory views these chords. Why is that? Well, let’s learn how to play them first, and we’ll discuss after.
This is how they look on musical sheets:
And here’s how you can play them on guitar:
Musically, they somehow manage to sound almost as tense, if not more, than diminished chords, and they can add an excellent and tense feel to your rhythm sections. I honestly can’t remember if I’ve ever used them, but when I get back to music writing, I will want to explore them more. They are of course formed on the 7th note of the major scale or the 2nd note of the minor scale.
Now, back to why they feel like an anomaly. Well, maybe not an anomaly, just a mouthful. So, a C diminished triad is C-Eb-Gb, right? And if you were to add a major third on top of this, you’d be playing a Bb note.
But dim7 chords require a minor third. How does one get a minor third here? By double-flattening the B note. As such, Cdim7 is actually C-Eb-Gb-Bbb, which of course translated to an A note. But that’s no longer a 7th chord type, because the 7th note in the C major scale is B.
And in order to have a 7th chord type you’ll need a variation of the 7th note added on top of a triad.
Music theory is FUN!!!
Conclusion
That about covers it for 7th chords. As you can see, some fairly versatile chords there and each type serves its purpose quite well.
Feel free to fiddle around with them, as you can incorporate them into your songwriting easily.
I am Andrew Milner, signing out. Thank you for reading my story and I will see you in the next one.
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