Dominant seventh chords, combined with the tonic chord, can harmonize every tone of the major scale, except for the submediant (sixth note). A dominant seventh of the new key gives a strong “push” towards the new tonic.Īside from resolutions to the tonic, dominant sevenths are useful for harmonizing tones of the major scale. To establish a change in key, songwriter usually place a tonic chord on a strong beat. This additional dissonance is also useful for modulations. While an ordinary dominant chord would work just fine for resolution to the tonic chord, the addition of the seventh gives the chord not only a greater degree of richness, but also additional dissonance that demands urgent resolution to the tonic. The inclusion of the subdominant (F) makes the transition to the mediant (E) more natural as well.Īn example of a V 7 -I progression in C major. With reference to a piece in C major such as in the diagram below, dominant seventh chords contain the leading note of the scale (B), which has a strong tendency to progress to the tonic (C). The dominant seventh chords contain notes that would likely be succeeded by notes of the tonic chord. Tonic chords consist of the tonic, mediant (third note of the scale) and dominant notes. Most importantly, the dominant seventh chord resolves to the tonic chord. The clashing sounds produced by playing these two notes together gives the dominant seventh chord its dissonant quality. Notice that the leading note and subdominant form a diminished fifth (tritone). Here is a table of dominant seventh chords in some keys. This means that all dominant seventh chords are major chords, regardless of the key. With respect to the root, all dominant seventh chords consist of a major third (dominant-leading note), a perfect fifth (dominant-supertonic) and minor seventh (dominant-subdominant). In piano/guitar chords, you’ll see a “7” written beside the letter of the chord root. When using roman numerals to denote chords, dominant seventh chords are notated with “V 7 ”. A dominant seventh chord consists of the dominant triad (fifth note of the scale is the root of the dominant chord) and an added note a minor seventh above the root.įor example, the dominant seventh chord in C major (or minor) is G-B-D-F. In music, a dominant refers to the fifth note of any scale (ie. Dominant Seventh Chords What are dominant seventh chords? While seventh chords were mainly used as embellishments in the past, dissonance has become more mainstream in the 20th and 21st centuries, and seventh chords are also mainstays of certain genres such as jazz and metal, where dissonance is used to create funky and harsh sounds respectively. While the different types of seventh chords have their own uses, seventh chords have generally been used to create tension through dissonance, allowing the songwriter to emphasize movement through the need to resolve this tension. In this article, we focus on dominant and diminished seventh chords. There are five main types of seventh chords, namely: major, minor, dominant, diminished, and half-diminished seventh chords. Note that matter how the notes are sharpened or flattened, the chord shown above is still a seventh chord, although the type of seventh chord changes. Put together, a “seventh chord” is chord composed of a triad and a note forming the interval of a seventh above the chord’s root (the lowest note). A seventh is formed by two notes that have an interval of seven letter names between them (eg. There are varying definitions of “chord,” but it typically refers to a harmonic group of notes (at least two, but usually three or more) sounded together. What are seventh chords?īut before we begin, let’s take a quick look at what a “seventh chord” is. In this article, we’ll explore the construction and uses of dominant and diminished seventh chords. We’ve probably already heard and played these chords in many pieces of music, without noticing the dissonance produced by these chords. Nevertheless, when used appropriately, they sound perfectly beautiful and logical in the context of the whole piece. I remember asking my piano teacher what was the point of learning such harsh sounding chords. Unfortunately, they’re also rather dissonant and odd sounding. In fact, they’re so prevalent that the higher grades of the ABRSM examinations require students to know them by heart. It’s hard to find a piece of music that doesn’t use either of these. Dominant and diminished seventh chords are common and important features of music.
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