7th Chords
(13 Jan 03)
Part 2: Do it Yourself
The remaining chord families are dominant 7, minor 7, minor 7 flat five, and diminished 7. Remember that all rules and techniques introduced with the maj7 chord work in the same way.
The good news is that we don't have to think about a minor second or a flat nine interval. All remaining chords do not have these intervals in their structure. As a result all inversions are useful.
I will focus on dominant 7 and minor 7 by showing you the Drop 2 and Drop 3 voicings at the end of this article, although I encourage you to do it on your own. If you need a tab paper for drawing the different fingerings look at the bottom of this page.
If you understand the method of constructing the voicings you will easily be able to construct diminished and minor seventh flat five voicings.
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Dominant 7
Construction: 1 M3 P5 b7
In relation to a maj7 chord the dominant 7 has a minor seventh instead of a major seventh.
C7 = C, E, G, Bb
Chord symbol: C7 ( in Europe)
Drop 2: You can generate the voicings in two ways:
- Write out the different inversions for C7 and then use the Drop 2 technique and transpose them onto the guitar.
- Look at the maj7 voicings and change the M7 (where necessary the M6) to a b7.
Pick an approach and figure out the guitar voicings. You can check in the Appendix whether your results are correct.
Drop 3: same approaches as with Drop 2
Apply the exercises introduced with maj7 to dominant 7.
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Minor 7
Construction: 1 b3 P5 b7
In relation to a dominant 7 chord the minor 7 has a minor third instead of a major third.
Cm7 = C, Eb, G, Bb
Chord symbol: Cm7, C-7, Cmin7, Cmi7
Drop 2: You can generate the voicings in two ways:
- Write out the different inversions for Cm7 and then use the Drop 2 technique and transpose them onto the guitar.
- Look at the dominant7 voicings and change the M3 to a b3.
Pick an approach and figure out the guitar voicings. You can check in the Appendix whether your results are correct.
Drop 3: same approaches as with Drop 2
Apply the exercises introduced with maj7 to minor 7.
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Chord Progressions
At this point it would be a good idea to apply the already learned voicings to actual chord progressions. Use progressions that incorporate maj7, 7 and m7 chords.
- Try to move as smooth as possible from one chord to the next one (Remember voice leading?)
- Try to use more than one voicing for each chord.
- Make sure to practice the chord progressions in different keys.
Examples:
I Cmaj7 I G7 I
I Dm7 I A7 I
I Cmaj7 I Am7 I Dm7 I G7 I
In order to complete the list of all chord families I will show you the construction of minor seven flat five and diminished seventh chords.
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Minor Seven Flat Five
Construction: 1 b3 b5 b7
In relation to a minor 7 chord the minor 7 flat five has a diminished fifth instead of a perfect fifth. Sometimes this chord is also called half diminished.
Cm7b5 = C, Eb, Gb, Bb
Chord symbol: Cm7b5, Cø7
Drop 2: The voicings can be generated in two ways:
- Write out the different inversions for Cm7b5 and then use the Drop 2 technique and transpose them onto the guitar.
- Look at the minor7 voicings and change the P5 to a b5.
Drop 3: same approaches as with Drop 2
Apply the exercises introduced with maj7 to m7b5.
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Diminished Seventh
Construction: 1 b3 b5 o7
In relation to a minor 7 b5 chord the diminished 7 has a diminished seventh instead of a minor seventh. Notice that the diminished chord is build up entirely of minor thirds,e.g. all voicings on the same pairs of strings have the same fingerings.
Co7 = C, Eb, Gb, Bbb (=A)
Chord symbol: Co7, Cdim7
Drop 2: The voicings can be generated in two ways:
- Write out the different inversions for Co7 and then use the Drop 2 technique and transpose them onto the guitar.
- Look at the minor7b5 voicings and change the b7 to a o7.
Drop 3: same approaches as with Drop 2
Apply the exercises introduced with maj7 to o7.
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7th Chords Overview
Finally this table shows you the construction of all 7th chords in relation to each other and an example for each chord starting on the root G.
maj7 1 M3 P5 M7 Gmaj7 G B D F#
7 1 M3 P5 b7 G7 G B D F
m7 1 b3 P5 b7 Gm7 G Bb D F
m7b5 1 b3 b5 b7 Gm7b5 G Bb Db F
o7 1 b3 b5 o7 Go7 G Bb Db Fb (=E)
What's Next
You may have realized that the fingerings for the C6 chords are exactly identical with Cm7 fingerings except that they are played in a different position. If you take Am7 voicings instead you will notice that they are exactly the same. This means that a C6 and a Am7 chord consist of the same notes. With this knowledge we are entering the topic of using substitute chords to create tensions over the original chord.
But this is another story ....
PDF files
Dom7 and m7 voicings
Tab Paper
A little reward
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