Dominant 7th, Major 7th and Minor 7th Chords Explained
Episode 3 of Play ANY Guitar Chord is all about 7th chords. What is a dominant 7th, and how is it different from a major 7th? I review triads from the first two episodes, add one more kind of triad, then stack a 7th on top to get four-part harmony. Knowing which note in your chord grip is the 7th means you don’t have to memorize hundreds of shapes.
What I cover:
- Diatonic triads built from stacked 3rds
- The diminished triad
- Dominant 7th vs major 7th chords
- How the dominant 7th connects to the Mixolydian scale
- Finding the 7th easily on the fretboard
- The “triangle” 7th chord shape
- C7 and Cmaj7 in all five CAGED positions
- A circle of fifths drill with a metronome
Harmonizing the G major scale in 3rds shows how the chord quality changes from major to minor as you go up the scale. On the 6th and 5th strings, a major 3rd is one fret apart and a minor 3rd is two frets apart. One triad is made of two stacked minor 3rds, and that is the diminished triad.
Play 1, 3, 5 and 7 of the C scale and you get C major 7. When you see C7 written, it means a dominant 7th, with the 7th lowered a half step. That comes from the Mixolydian scale, which is the major scale started on its 5th note. The root, 3rd and flat 7th make a very useful little triangle shape that comes up again and again in this series. I then show C7 and Cmaj7 in each CAGED position up to the 12th fret.
For the exercise, take the circle of fifths and play only the root notes for each CAGED position, with a metronome at around 60 bpm. As you get quicker at spotting the roots, raise the tempo.
For a free starting point with 7th chords, download my 1st Position 7th Chords chart (PDF).
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