Tim Price Bloggin' for D'Addario Woodwinds- Being flexible on dominant 7th chords.

 

 

I thought I'd take some time this week and define some 7th chords and their functions. It is something every improvisor needs more clarity on due to the amount of things to hear and play. Let's get started.

Seventh chords are the most common extension of the basic 3-note triad you come across.
A seventh chord is built by adding an extra note to a triad which is an interval of a 7th above the root note.
e.g. If you build a triad on C you will use the notes (C-E-G). If you add a another note a 7th above C then you will have C-E-G-B. You have just created a basic seventh chord.

The 5 Types of Seventh Chords

There are 5 types of 7th chord you will come across and want to use in your music. Each one gives a characteristic sound which will help you when composing music.

Major seventh chord

The major seventh chord has a much softer sound than the dominant seventh. Again, it is created by taking a major triad, but this time adding a note a major seventh (11 semitones) above the root.
e.g. a major seventh chord on C contains the notes C-E-G-B (B is a major seventh/11 semitones above C).
You will often see it written as CM7.


Keep in mind, these below are very easy to learn. But make sure you can hear and apply them.

Half-diminished seventh chord

The half diminished seventh chord is the first of the two 7th chords which give a feeling of tension.
It is created by taking a diminished triad and adding a note a minor seventh (10 semitones) above the root.
e.g. a half diminished seventh chord on C contains the notes C-Eb-Gb-Bb.
You will often see it written as a slashed circle followed by a 7 (see the table below)
Can you hear the feeling of tension you get with the half-diminished seventh chord?

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Diminished seventh chord

The final seventh chord is the diminished seventh chord. This gives a very distinctive tense and scary feel.
It is created by taking a diminished triad and adding a note a diminished seventh (9 semitones) above the root.
e.g. a diminished seventh chord on C contains the notes C-Eb-Gb-Bbb). (Bbb is “B double flat”).
You will often see it written as a small circle followed by a 7 (see the table below)
As you can tell from the audio example below it is a brilliant chord to use if you want to create tension in your music.Hope this lesson has helped you understand seventh chords and given you some inspiration for your composing.
I have put together a summary below of  seventh chords to make things easy, and some

Secondary dominants- if you take a few minutes to try these, study them you'll be solid on these forever.

In connection with the dominant and predominant chords we discussed the meaning of the tritone as a tension-building ("dominant") interval. To recognize a key by ear, it is enough to hear the tritone resolve into either a major or a minor chord.
A major or minor triad can build on a variety of degrees of a key and sound "like the tonic" if preceded by its dominant chord. An example of this is the second degree chord (Dm) in C major preceded by A7 (V7 in D minor): the relationship between these chords is stronger than in the ordinary progression VI-II (Am-Dm). This is due to the tritone resolution: the third and seventh of A7 resolve into the root and third of Dm.
The dom7 always includes a tritone; since a major key only includes one tritone, secondary dominants always include altered notes.
The symbol for a secondary dominant is the dominant chord sign (V, Vs, or VII) followed by a slash (/). The slash is followed by the scale degree (secondary tonic) into which the secondary dominant resolves.
In the example below, we see the secondary dominant chords in C major with their secondary tonics (root + third) with scale degree symbols and absolute chord signs. A diminished triad, the VII degree does not have a secondary dominant (or the II degree of a minor scale).

The tritone resolutions of the same chords with consequent chromatic alterations are seen below:

If a minor third is added in the tritone, the result is a secondary dominant of the VII type. If another third is added on top of the tritone, the result is a secondary dominant of the VII7 type, which is a diminished four-note chord. A diminished chord includes two tritones; their proper resolution is shown in the example. While the diminished chord includes two tritones demanding resolution, the dominant type (V7/) secondary dominant is the most common because it builds a fourth relation to the secondary tonic.

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