Seventh chord

Last updated May 11, 2024

A seventh chord is a chord consisting of a triad plus a note forming an interval of a seventh above the chord's root. When not otherwise specified, a "seventh chord" usually means a dominant seventh chord: a major triad together with a minor seventh. However, a variety of sevenths may be added to a variety of triads, resulting in many different types of seventh chords.

In its earliest usage, the seventh was introduced solely as an embellishing or nonchord tone. The seventh destabilized the triad, and allowed the composer to emphasize movement in a given direction. As time passed and the collective ear of the western world became more accustomed to dissonance, the seventh was allowed to become a part of the chord itself, and in some modern music, jazz in particular, nearly every chord is a seventh chord^{[ vague ]}. Additionally, the general acceptance of equal temperament during the 19th century reduced the dissonance of some earlier forms of sevenths.

Classification

Most textbooks name these chords formally by the type of triad and type of seventh; hence, a chord consisting of a major triad and a minor seventh above the root is referred to as a major/minor seventh chord. When the triad type and seventh type are identical (i.e. they are both major, minor, or diminished), the name is shortened. For instance, a major/major seventh is generally referred to as a major seventh. This rule is not valid for augmented chords: since the augmented/augmented chord is not commonly used, the abbreviation augmented is used for augmented/minor, rather than augmented/augmented. Additionally, half-diminished stands for diminished/minor, and dominant stands for major/minor. When the type is not specified at all, the triad is assumed to be major, and the seventh is understood as a minor seventh (e.g. a "C" chord is a "C major triad", and a "C⁷" chord is a "C major/minor seventh chord", also known as a "C dominant seventh chord"). For symbols used for seventh chords, see also Popular music symbols § Seventh chords.

Tertian

The most common chords are tertian, constructed using a sequence of major thirds (spanning 4 semitones) and/or minor thirds (3 semitones). Since there are 3 third intervals in a seventh chord (4 notes) and each can be major or minor, there are 7 possible permutations (the 8th one, consisted of four major thirds, results in a non-seventh augmented chord, since a major third equally divides the octave^[2]). The five commonly found in western music are the major seventh, the minor (or minor/minor) seventh, the dominant (or major/minor) seventh, the half-diminished seventh, and the diminished seventh. The less commonly found tertians are the minor major seventh and the augmented major seventh.

Tertian seventh chords used in Western music
Common name	Chord on C	Common symbols on C	Intervals from root			Quality of consecutive thirds
Common name	Chord on C	Common symbols on C	Third	Fifth	Seventh	1st	2nd	3rd
Major seventh		Cmaj⁷ CM⁷ C^Δ7 C^Δ	major	perfect	major	major	minor	major
Minor seventh		Cmin⁷ Cm⁷ C−⁷	minor	perfect	minor	minor	major	minor
Dominant seventh		C⁷	major	perfect	minor	major	minor	minor
Half-diminished seventh		Cm^7♭5 C−^7♭5 C^ø⁷	minor	diminished	minor	minor	minor	major
Diminished seventh		C^o⁷ Cdim⁷ Cm^(♭7)♭5 C−^(♭7)♭5	minor	diminished	diminished	minor	minor	minor
Minor major seventh		Cm^maj7 Cm^M7 Cm^Δ7 C−^Δ7	minor	perfect	major	minor	major	major
Augmented major seventh		Caug^maj7 C+^maj7 C+^M7 C+^Δ7	major	augmented	major	major	major	minor

Non-tertian

Seventh chords can also be constructed using augmented or diminished thirds. These chords are not tertian and can be used in non-tertian harmony. There are many (mathematically, 64) chords that can be built, however, only a few of them are used in Western music.

Commonly used non-tertian seventh chords
Common name	Chord on C	Common symbols on C	Intervals from root			Quality of consecutive thirds
Common name	Chord on C	Common symbols on C	Third	Fifth	Seventh	1st	2nd	3rd
Augmented seventh		Caug⁷ C+⁷	major	augmented	minor	major	major	diminished (equiv. major second)
Diminished major seventh		Cm^M7♭5 C−^Δ7♭5	minor	diminished	major	minor	minor	augmented (equiv. perfect fourth)
Dominant seventh flat five		C^7♭5	major	diminished	minor	major	diminished	major
Major seventh flat five		C^M7♭5	major	diminished	major	major	diminished	augmented

In tuning systems other than equal temperament there are further possible seventh chords. In just intonation, for example, there is the harmonic seventh.

Types

Dominant seventh chord

The dominant seventh chord (V⁷) in C major, G⁷

A dominant seventh chord, or major-minor seventh chord is a chord composed of a root, major third, perfect fifth, and minor seventh. It can be also viewed as a major triad with an additional minor seventh. It is denoted using popular music symbols by adding a superscript "7" after the letter designating the chord root.^[3]^: 77 The dominant seventh is found almost as often as the dominant triad.^[3]^: 199 The chord can be represented by the integer notation (0, 4, 7, 10).

Of all the seventh chords, perhaps the most important is the dominant seventh. It was the first seventh chord to appear regularly in classical music. The name comes from the fact that the flat seventh occurs naturally in the scale built upon the root when it functions as the dominant (i.e., the fifth degree) of some major diatonic scale.

Take for example the C major scale (C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C):

The note G is the dominant degree of C major—its fifth note. When we arrange the notes of the C major scale in ascending pitch and use only these notes to build a seventh chord, and we start with G (not C), then the resulting chord contains the four notes G–B–D–F and is called G dominant seventh (G⁷). The note F is a minor seventh from G, and is also called the dominant seventh with respect to G.

Harmonic seventh chord

The harmonic seventh chord on C

The harmonic seventh chord is a dominant seventh chord formed by a major triad plus a harmonic seventh interval.

The harmonic seventh interval is a minor seventh tuned in the 7:4 pitch ratio, one of the possible "just ratios" defined for this interval in just intonation (slightly below the width of a minor seventh as tuned in equal temperament). With just intonation on all notes of the harmonic seventh chord, the ratio between the frequencies of the pitches in the chord is 4:5:6:7. For example, a justly intuned A harmonic seventh chord in root position starting at A440 consists of the pitches 440 Hz, 550 Hz, 660 Hz, and 770 Hz.

Sometimes called a "blue note", the harmonic seventh is used by singers, through note bending on guitars, and on other instruments not restricted to equal temperament. An often heard example of the harmonic seventh chord is the last word of the modern addition to the song "Happy Birthday to You", with the lyrics, "and many more!" The harmony on the word "more" is typically sung as a harmonic seventh chord.^[4]

Frequent use of the harmonic seventh chord is one of the defining characteristics of blues and barbershop harmony; barbershoppers refer to it as "the barbershop seventh". Since barbershop music tends to be sung in just intonation, the barbershop seventh chord may be accurately termed a harmonic seventh chord. The harmonic seventh chord is also widely used in blues-flavored music. As pianos, and other equal-temperament instruments cannot play this chord, it is frequently approximated by a dominant seventh. As a result, it is often called a dominant seventh chord and written with the same symbols (such as the blues progression I⁷–V⁷–IV⁷).

Major and minor seventh chords

The minor seventh chord (ii⁷) in C major, D–⁷

While the dominant seventh chord is typically built on the fifth (or dominant) degree of a major scale, the minor seventh chord is built on the second, third, or sixth degree. A minor seventh chord contains the same notes as an added sixth chord. For example, C–E♭–G–B♭ can function as both a C minor seventh and an E♭ added sixth (Id chord).

The major seventh chord (IV⁷) in C major, FΔ⁷

Major seventh chords are usually constructed on the first or fourth degree of a scale, (in C or G major: C–E–G–B). Due to the major seventh interval between the root and seventh (C–B, an inverted minor second), this chord can sometimes sound dissonant, depending on the voicing used. For example, Bacharach and David's "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head" opens with a major chord followed by a major seventh in the next measure.

The major seventh is sometimes notated as Δ7 (a delta chord) or just a Δ (which has the same meaning).

Half-diminished seventh chord

The leading-tone seventh chord (vii^ø⁷) in C major, B^ø⁷

A half-diminished seventh chord is a seventh chord built from the seventh degree of a major scale. It is considered "half-diminished" because a fully diminished seventh has a double-flatted (diminished) seventh, making it enharmonically the same as a major sixth. The half-diminished seventh chord uses a minor seventh over the root of a diminished triad.

Example: (in the key of C major) B–D–F–A.

Diminished seventh chord

The diminished seventh chord on B

A diminished seventh chord is made of three superimposed minor thirds (e.g., B–D–F–A♭), which is two tritones a minor third apart (e.g., B–F, D–A♭). The diminished seventh chord has been used by composers and musicians for a variety of reasons over time. Some reasons include: as a symbol of Sturm und Drang; modulation; and for characterisation. The diminished seventh chord is seen more frequently in late classical and romantic period works but is also found in Baroque and Renaissance period works, though not as frequently.

All of the elements of the diminished seventh chord can be found in the dominant seventh flat nine (7♭9) chord as seen in a comparison of the two chords.

Inversions

There are four different inversions of a seventh chord. Following basso continuo notation, the inversions are as follows:

⁷: GBDF
⁶
₅: BDFG
⁴
₃: DFGB
² or ⁴
₂: FGBD

Additional numbers are used to indicate the seventh chords and their inversions.^[5]

Related Research Articles

In music, harmony is the concept of combining different sounds together in order to create new, distinct musical ideas. Theories of harmony seek to describe or explain the effects created by distinct pitches or tones coinciding with one another; harmonic objects such as chords, textures and tonalities are identified, defined, and categorized in the development of these theories. Harmony is broadly understood to involve both a "vertical" dimension (frequency-space) and a "horizontal" dimension (time-space), and often overlaps with related musical concepts such as melody, timbre, and form.

In music theory, an interval is a difference in pitch between two sounds. An interval may be described as horizontal, linear, or melodic if it refers to successively sounding tones, such as two adjacent pitches in a melody, and vertical or harmonic if it pertains to simultaneously sounding tones, such as in a chord.

In music theory, the tritone is defined as a musical interval spanning three adjacent whole tones. For instance, the interval from F up to the B above it is a tritone as it can be decomposed into the three adjacent whole tones F–G, G–A, and A–B.

In music theory, a perfect fifth is the musical interval corresponding to a pair of pitches with a frequency ratio of 3:2, or very nearly so.

In music, a chord is a group of three or more notes played simultaneously, typically consisting of a root note, a third, and a fifth. Chords are the building blocks of harmony and form the harmonic foundation of a piece of music. They can be major, minor, diminished, augmented, or extended, depending on the intervals between the notes and their arrangement. Chords provide the harmonic support and coloration that accompany melodies and contribute to the overall sound and mood of a musical composition. For many practical and theoretical purposes, arpeggios and other types of broken chords may also be considered as chords in the right musical context.

In classical music, a third is a musical interval encompassing three staff positions, and the major third is a third spanning four half steps or two whole steps. Along with the minor third, the major third is one of two commonly occurring thirds. It is qualified as major because it is the larger interval of the two: the major third spans four semitones; the minor third, three. For example, the interval from C to E is a major third, as the note E lies four semitones above C, and there are three staff positions from C to E. Diminished and augmented thirds span the same number of staff positions, but consist of a different number of semitones.

The intervals from the tonic (keynote) in an upward direction to the second, to the third, to the sixth, and to the seventh scale degrees of a major scale are called major.

In music from Western culture, a sixth is a musical interval encompassing six note letter names or staff positions, and the major sixth is one of two commonly occurring sixths. It is qualified as major because it is the larger of the two. The major sixth spans nine semitones. Its smaller counterpart, the minor sixth, spans eight semitones. For example, the interval from C up to the nearest A is a major sixth. It is a sixth because it encompasses six note letter names and six staff positions. It is a major sixth, not a minor sixth, because the note A lies nine semitones above C. Diminished and augmented sixths span the same number of note letter names and staff positions, but consist of a different number of semitones.

The intervals from the tonic (keynote) in an upward direction to the second, to the third, to the sixth, and to the seventh scale degrees (of a major scale are called major.

In music theory, a major chord is a chord that has a root, a major third, and a perfect fifth. When a chord comprises only these three notes, it is called a major triad. For example, the major triad built on C, called a C major triad, has pitches C–E–G:

In Western classical music, an augmented fifth is an interval produced by widening a perfect fifth by a chromatic semitone. For instance, the interval from C to G is a perfect fifth, seven semitones wide, and both the intervals from C♭ to G, and from C to G♯ are augmented fifths, spanning eight semitones. Being augmented, it is considered a dissonant interval.

In music theory, an augmented sixth chord contains the interval of an augmented sixth, usually above its bass tone. This chord has its origins in the Renaissance, was further developed in the Baroque, and became a distinctive part of the musical style of the Classical and Romantic periods.

In music, a triad is a set of three notes that can be stacked vertically in thirds. Triads are the most common chords in Western music.

In music theory, a dominant seventh chord, or major minor seventh chord, is a seventh chord, composed of a root, major third, perfect fifth, and minor seventh. Thus it is a major triad together with a minor seventh, denoted by the letter name of the chord root and a superscript "7". In most cases, dominant seventh chord are built on the fifth degree of the major scale. An example is the dominant seventh chord built on G, written as G⁷, having pitches G–B–D–F:

In Western music, the adjectives major and minor may describe an interval, chord, scale, or key. A composition, movement, section, or phrase may also be referred to by its key, including whether that key is major or minor.

In music, a guitar chord is a set of notes played on a guitar. A chord's notes are often played simultaneously, but they can be played sequentially in an arpeggio. The implementation of guitar chords depends on the guitar tuning. Most guitars used in popular music have six strings with the "standard" tuning of the Spanish classical guitar, namely E–A–D–G–B–E' ; in standard tuning, the intervals present among adjacent strings are perfect fourths except for the major third (G,B). Standard tuning requires four chord-shapes for the major triads.

In music theory, the harmonic major scale is a musical scale found in some music from the common practice era and now used occasionally, most often in jazz. In George Russell's Lydian Chromatic Concept it is the fifth mode (V) of the Lydian Diminished scale. It corresponds to the Raga Sarasangi in Indian Carnatic music, or Raag Nat Bhairav in Hindustani music.

In music, septimal meantone temperament, also called standard septimal meantone or simply septimal meantone, refers to the tempering of 7-limit musical intervals by a meantone temperament tuning in the range from fifths flattened by the amount of fifths for 12 equal temperament to those as flat as 19 equal temperament, with 31 equal temperament being a more or less optimal tuning for both the 5- and 7-limits.

The harmonic minor scale is a musical scale derived from the natural minor scale, with the minor seventh degree raised by one semitone to a major seventh, creating an augmented second between the sixth and seventh degrees.

The harmonic seventh interval, also known as the septimal minor seventh, or subminor seventh, is one with an exact 7:4 ratio (about 969 cents). This is somewhat narrower than and is, "particularly sweet", "sweeter in quality" than an "ordinary" just minor seventh, which has an intonation ratio of 9:5 (about 1018 cents).

The harmonic seventh chord is a major triad plus the harmonic seventh interval. This interval is somewhat narrower and is "sweeter in quality" than an "ordinary" minor seventh, which has a just intonation ratio of 9:5, or an equal-temperament ratio of 1000 cents.

Musicians use various kinds of chord names and symbols in different contexts to represent musical chords. In most genres of popular music, including jazz, pop, and rock, a chord name and its corresponding symbol typically indicate one or more of the following:

the root note,
the chord quality,
whether the chord is a triad, seventh chord, or an extended chord,
any altered notes,
any added tones, and
the bass note if it is not the root.

References

↑ Kostka; Payne (1995). Tonal Harmony (3rd ed.). p. 225. ISBN 0-07-300056-6.
↑ Hughes, Bryn. "Equal Divisions of the Octave". Open Music Theory. University of Nebraska System.
1 2 Benward; Saker (2003). Music: In Theory and Practice, Vol. I (7th ed.). ISBN 978-0-07-294262-0.
↑ Mathieu, W. A. (1997). Harmonic Experience. Rochester, Vermont: Inner Traditions International. p. 126. ISBN 0-89281-560-4.
↑ Seventh chord - Inversions - HK Piano

External links

7th Chords on guitar, fretjam.com
"17 Easy Jazz Guitar Chords For Beginners", Dirk Laukens, jazzguitar.be

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[1] Kostka; Payne (1995). Tonal Harmony (3rd ed.). p. 225. ISBN 0-07-300056-6.

[2] Hughes, Bryn. "Equal Divisions of the Octave". Open Music Theory. University of Nebraska System.

[benwardsaker-3] 1 2 Benward; Saker (2003). Music: In Theory and Practice, Vol. I (7th ed.). ISBN 978-0-07-294262-0.

[Mathieu_pg._126-4] Mathieu, W. A. (1997). Harmonic Experience. Rochester, Vermont: Inner Traditions International. p. 126. ISBN 0-89281-560-4.

[5] Seventh chord - Inversions - HK Piano

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