Dominant seventh chord charts : structures

August 22, 2013 musilosophy

Dominant chord is on the :

V degree of the Major and harmonic-melodic minor (b9 and b6) scale
VII of the natural minor scale
IV (#4) degree of the melodic minor scale.

#4 = This chord has augmented 4th

b6 =minor 6th

b9 = minor 9th
In this page there are dominant seventh chords in all keys and in 4 inversions

Dominant 7 chord charts : inversions and sample videos

This video shows how to study dominant seventh chord inversions

In this other one I arpeggiate the inversions

Here are all dominant seventh chord inversions. This chord is much used in blues music and its derived styles. The blues structure is characterized by the constant use of this chord. Besides the simpler blues structure is formed only by three dominant seventh chords. Even in the classical music, it was much used and it was considered almost a consonance: in fact, its seventh did not need the preparation; you do need to feel it previously as consonant tune in another chord. It could be played enough freely. However, memory that in accordance with the classical harmony and not only, the seventh of a chord is well that descends, to resolve the tension that creates. For example, considering the C7 chord,
the Bb (seventh) is well that moving, nearly always, descend to A, the third of F Maj, that is the third of the tonic chord.

PLAY them many, many times!

It is an important and fundamental drill to learn jazz improvisation because melody is based on chord’s notes.

Considerations on dominant seventh chords

This chord is one of the most important. Its sound creates a strong tension searching for the tonic as rest. The fifth of a note represents the first harmonic different tone (in the harmonic series) from the note itself, that is the most similar note to the fundamental tone. For example, the most similar tone to C is G, the most similar tone to D is A and so on. Therefore the chord deriving from the fifth or from the dominant degree of a tone called tonic, creates a sound and a tension searching for the tonic itself.