The “root” or base note of all of these chords will be the note the chords are built from. We’re going to use the visual aid of a piano’s keyboard here, but feel free to adapt this information to your specific instrument. In order to properly understand 7th chords you’ve got to have a good idea of what basic chords are first, so here’s a quick review.īasic major, minor, and diminished chords can be constructed by using simple formulas. You don’t need to be a music theory aficionado to understand the concepts we’ll be discussing in this article, but having some music theory knowledge will certainly help. In this article, we’re going to explain what 7th chords are and how to build them on the piano and guitar. Used in music from nearly any genre you can think of, these chords have the power to deliver color, mood, and atmosphere to songs that might otherwise sound drab and uninspired. When those notes are dropped down an octave, the result is a drop 2 & 4 voicing: C-G-x-E-B (1-5-x-3-7).If you play music casually and aren’t familiar with basic music theory you might not be privy to the amazing world of 7th chords. In a root position C major seventh chord (C-E-G-B), G and C are the second and fourth highest notes from the top.
When you drop the second and fourth highest notes from a closed position chord down an octave, the result is a drop 2 & 4 voicing. For example, when C which is the third highest note from the top in a C Major Seventh close position chord (B-C-E-G) is dropped down an octave so that it becomes the bass note, a drop 3 voicing is created: C-x-B-E-G (1-x-7-3-5). When the 3rd highest note in a close position chord is dropped down an octave, you get a drop 3 voicing. When we drop the C an octave, it becomes the bass note, and the voicing changes to 1-5-7-3. For example, if we have a Cmaj7 voiced 5-7-1-3 (G-B-C-E), then the 2nd highest voice is C.
You can achieve an open or “spread” voicing by taking the 2nd voice (2nd highest note) or a chord in closed position and drop it down an octave. An open voicing is when the notes being played span more than an octave. A closed voicing is when all of the notes being played are within the span of one octave. The ♭♭7 is enharmonic to a 6.Ĭhords can be played in either open or closed voicings. If a minor third from a 5 is a ♭7, then a minor third from a ♭5 is a ♭♭7. We should note that a diminished seventh chord is one of the few times you will see a double-flat (♭♭). Look at the table below to see the various qualities of seventh chords: Seventh chords are especially interesting because of the large variation in the qualities they have and their functions.
They are so named because one third above the 5 is the seventh. Seventh Chords are the chords produced if you stack an additional third on top of a basic triad.
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