Seventh chord

Any chord built from a triad with an extra note a seventh above the root, giving a four-note chord with more colour and direction.

Adding the seventh turns a static triad into a chord that wants to move, which is why seventh chords dominate jazz, blues and soul. The type of seventh decides the flavour: a major seventh sounds smooth and open, a minor seventh relaxed, and a dominant seventh restless and bluesy. On guitar the same four notes can be arranged in several different shapes on the same fret, but some fingerings are unplayable, so players learn a handful of voicings and move them around.

Example: A four-note chord containing a root, third, fifth and seventh, such as G, B, D and F, is a seventh chord.

Seventh chord

See also