Seventh chords
Triads with one more third on top, the five main types and the seventh chords of the major key.
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Triads with one more third on top, the five main types and the seventh chords of the major key.
Applied
Stack one more third on a triad and you get a seventh chord: root, third, fifth and seventh. The seventh adds colour and, above all, direction. A seventh chord sounds less "closed" than a triad, and the dominant seventh (G7) asks to resolve very clearly.
Five seventh chords on C:
The first sounds soft and dreamy; the second, tense and restless; the third, relaxed; the last two, unstable.
| Type | Formula | Triad + seventh | On C |
|---|---|---|---|
| Major seventh | 1 3 5 7 | major + major 7 | Cmaj7 |
| Dominant | 1 3 5 b7 | major + minor 7 | C7 |
| Minor seventh | 1 b3 5 b7 | minor + minor 7 | Cm7 |
| Half-diminished (ø) | 1 b3 b5 b7 | diminished + minor 7 | Cm7♭5 |
| Diminished | 1 b3 b5 bb7 | diminished + diminished 7 | Cdim7 |
The seventh of the diminished chord is spelled B𝄫, even though it sounds like A: it's a diminished seventh, not a sixth.
| Chord type | Symbol | Formula | C |
|---|---|---|---|
| major | C | 1 3 5 | C E G |
| minor | Cm | 1 ♭3 5 | C Eb G |
| diminished | Cdim | 1 ♭3 ♭5 | C Eb Gb |
| augmented | Caug | 1 3 ♯5 | C E G# |
| suspended second | Csus2 | 1 2 5 | C D G |
| suspended fourth | Csus4 | 1 4 5 | C F G |
| fifth (power chord) | C5 | 1 5 | C G |
| major seventh | Cmaj7 | 1 3 5 7 | C E G B |
| dominant seventh | C7 | 1 3 5 ♭7 | C E G Bb |
| minor seventh | Cm7 | 1 ♭3 5 ♭7 | C Eb G Bb |
| half-diminished (m7♭5) | Cm7♭5 | 1 ♭3 ♭5 ♭7 | C Eb Gb Bb |
| diminished seventh | Cdim7 | 1 ♭3 ♭5 𝄫7 | C Eb Gb Bbb |
| minor-major seventh | Cm(maj7) | 1 ♭3 5 7 | C Eb G B |
| major seventh ♯5 | Cmaj7♯5 | 1 3 ♯5 7 | C E G# B |
| seventh suspended fourth | C7sus4 | 1 4 5 ♭7 | C F G Bb |
| sixth | C6 | 1 3 5 6 | C E G A |
| minor sixth | Cm6 | 1 ♭3 5 6 | C Eb G A |
| six-nine | C6/9 | 1 3 5 6 9 | C E G A D |
| added ninth | Cadd9 | 1 3 5 9 | C E G D |
| minor added ninth | Cmadd9 | 1 ♭3 5 9 | C Eb G D |
| major ninth | Cmaj9 | 1 3 5 7 9 | C E G B D |
| dominant ninth | C9 | 1 3 5 ♭7 9 | C E G Bb D |
| minor ninth | Cm9 | 1 ♭3 5 ♭7 9 | C Eb G Bb D |
| eleventh | C11 | 1 5 ♭7 9 11 | C G Bb D F |
An Am7 on the fretboard, with degrees:
String 6, Open: E2 · 5 · Fifth
Tap each diagram and compare. Notice that many shapes leave out the fifth: it's the least important note in the chord.
Stack four notes on each degree of the major scale and you get the diatonic seventh chords. In C major:
| Degree | Imaj7 | ii7 | iii7 | IVmaj7 | V7 | vi7 | viiø7 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chord | Cmaj7 | Dm7 | Em7 | Fmaj7 | G7 | Am7 | Bm7♭5 |
There is only one dominant seventh per key, on the fifth degree. That uniqueness is what makes it point so strongly to the tonic.
Play the arpeggio of each chord in a ii–V–I (Dm7 – G7 – Cmaj7) without changing position. You'll find that moving from one chord to the next almost always means shifting one or two notes by a half or whole step.
Scales, arpeggios & fretboardArpeggios over a progressionArpeggiate each chord of a progression with as little hand movement as possible.G7 contains a tritone between its third (B) and its seventh (F). Resolving to C, the third rises to C and the seventh falls to E: two half steps closing in. Kostka and Payne treat this resolution as the core of V7 voice leading.
The diminished seventh is symmetrical: it's built only from minor thirds, so there are just three distinct diminished chords, and each can act as a dominant for four keys. Bdim7 works like a rootless G7♭9, as Levine points out.