7th Chords

Have you ever heard a song with a beautiful chord progression that you wanted to copy? You go find the progression on your favorite chord site, but it doesn't sound the same. You play the chords you know, but they don’t quite fit with the song. Odds are you need to learn 7th chords. 7th chords can make your chords sound much better without a lot of extra work. 

This article will cover: 

1. What is a 7th Chord 

2. The Different Types of 7th Chords 

3. Basic 7th Chord Shapes 

4. Bonus 7th Chord Shapes 

What is a 7th Chord 

Before we go any further, you need to understand how triads work. They are the fundamental building block for 7th chords. If you don’t know how they work, check out this article.  

A 7th chord adds a 7th interval above the root to a triad. A seventh interval is a note that is 7 letters from the root note. The note can be flat, natural, or sharp. The important part is the letter name. 7 letters above C is B. 7 letters above G is F. The 7th chord might call for an Fb, F or F#, but you can find the 7th letter now.

Types of 7th Chords

These 7th chords give us several different types of options for new chords. The main ones are Major 7th, Dominant 7th, Minor 7th, and Half-Diminished.  

A Major 7th chord is a major chord with a Major 7th interval. A Major 7th interval is the last note in the root note’s major scale. A Major 7th above C is B. A Major 7th above F is E. A Major 7th above G is F#.  This is why memorizing your major scales is very useful. Click here to learn your CAGED major scales.

A Dominant 7th chord is a major chord with a Minor 7th interval. A Minor 7th interval does not occur naturally from the root note of a major scale. For example, a Minor 7th above C is Bb. Bb is not in a C Major Scale. A Minor 7th is a half-step lower than a Major 7th.  

In Blues, Dominant Chords are very popular. The standard blues pattern uses dominant chords the entire time. This is why so many blues songs have unresolved tension. The Dominant Chords never go away. We are used to songs resolving to a non-Dominant Chord. Blues doesn’t do that. It shoves it in your face the whole time. 

A Minor 7th Chord has a minor chord with a Minor 7th interval. A C Minor 7th chord is C, Eb, G, and Bb. These chords are super popular and they sound great. A Half-Diminished Chord is a diminished triad with a Minor 7th chord. A C Half-Diminished chord has the notes C, Eb, Gb, and Bb.   

A beautiful thing about learning music theory is the fact that there are patterns. In every major key, you can use these chords in the pattern to play the proper major chord. The number refers to the scale degree. In C, C is 1. D is 2. E is 3. F is 4. G is 5. A is 6. B is 7. Every Major Scale can be replaced by numbers. 

The 1 Chord is a Major 7th. 

The 2 Chord is a Minor 7th. 

The 3 Chord is a Minor 7th. 

The 4 Chord is a Major 7th.  

The 5 Chord is a Dominant 7th. 

The 6 Chord is a Minor 7th. 

The 7 Chord is a Half-Diminished 7th. 

There are more types of 7th chords available, but they don’t appear naturally inside of a key. There is a Minor Major 7th. This is a Minor Chord with a Major 7th interval. A C Minor Major 7th would be C, Eb, G, B. I like to call this the James Bond chord, because it’s the chord they use at the end of every James Bond theme. 

There is a Fully Diminished 7th. This is where you lower the Minor 7th down another half step. The reason for this is every note is then a Minor 3rd apart. A C Diminished 7th has the notes C, Eb, Gb, Bbb (or A). C to Eb is a minor 3rd. Eb to Gb is a minor 3rd. Gb to Bbb is a minor 3rd. It is called Bbb or B double flat because a 7th above C will always have the name B, but it sounds like an A. 

Basic 7th Chord Shapes 

The beautiful thing about guitar is that we have common shapes that work for most chords. This means to play these chords, we only need to learn a couple of shapes. We can then move those shapes for each key. Each type has a root note on the A-string and a root note on the E-string. This means that you can play any chord by simply finding its root note on the respective string.

Major 7th Shapes 

Dominant 7th Shapes

Minor 7th Shapes

Half-Diminished Shapes

Minor Major Shapes

Fully Diminished Shapes

These shapes will help you learn beautiful chords very quickly. 

Bonus 7th Chord Shapes 

Below are some bonus shapes that I wanted to share because they sound incredible. There are 4 Major 7th Shapes, 4 Minor 7th Shapes, and 4 Dominant 7th Shapes. You can use them to make beautiful sounding chords in any song. The diagram will be in C. The root note will be in blue. You can play that shape with a different note on the same string to get that chord. If you move it up a step, the root note will be D. Then you will have a D chord. You can then find any chord.

Major 7th Shapes 

Dominant 7th Shapes 

Minor 7th Shapes 

7th Chords are very beautiful sounding chords. They will let you chord more interesting chords than normal triads. Plus they are the next building block for creating even more interesting chords. If you want help learning what to play next, click the link to get access to the Roxy Rockin’ Guitar books. You're probably gonna wanna choose the Blue Book when it asks which book to get. Don't worry, you can get a different one later if you want it.