Learn-by-doing lessons for quickly internalizing Dominant 7th Chords in all spellings… by ear, intellect, eye and muscle…
Table of Contents
Lesson Goal
To quickly internalize Dominant 7th Chords in all spellings… using all four musical intelligences.
Prerequisites
Basic music reading skills… the LOVE of music… and the discipline to study and practice.
C Dominant Seventh Chord
- Chord symbol: C7
- Chord structure: 1-3-5-b7 (Major Triad + b7)
- Character: bright, unstable, dissonant.
The Dominant 7th chord is commonly just called a “7 chord” for short.
The C7 chord is a C major triad (something you already know) plus one more note: Bb. This added note gives it a bright, unstable, dissonant quality.
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Common Uses for Dominant 7th Chords
Common uses (using Roman Numeral Analysis) for Dominant 7th Chords include, but are not limited to, the following:
- V7 in Major or Minor Tonality.
- Secondary Dominant V7/x (Tonicization).
- I7 in Mixolydian Tonality.
- IV7 in Dorian or Mixolydian Tonality.
- I7 or IV7 in Blues Tonality.
- V7 in a new key (modulation)
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Dominant 7th Chords, All Spellings
Here are the chord symbols, spellings, common usages, and keyboard layouts for all the Dominant 7th Chords…
Sidebar advice from Frank: (1) In order to build any Dominant 7th Chord, just add “the b7” to a major triad, (2) Skip all the widely-touted counting half-steps nonsense and simply learn to spell each chord just as you spell any four-letter word in English. For example, you spell face F-A-C-E and star S-T-A-R. Likewise, you spell a C7 chord C-E-G-Bb and D7 chord D-F#-A-C.
C Dominant 7th
- Chord Symbol: C7
- Spelling: C-E-G-Bb (C Major Triad + Bb)
- Common Usage: V7 chord in F Major or F Minor… or Tonicization of an F or Fm chord.
C Sharp Dominant 7th
- Chord Symbol: C#7
- Spelling: C#-E#-G#-B (C# Major Triad + B)
- Common Usage: V7 chord in F# Minor… or Tonicization of an F# or F#m chord.
D Flat Dominant 7th
- Chord Symbol: Db7
- Spelling: Db-F-Ab-Cb (Db Major Triad + Cb)
- Common Usage: V7 chord in Gb Major… or Tonicization of a Gb or Gbm chord.
D Dominant 7th
- Chord Symbol: D7
- Spelling: D-F#-A-C (D Major Triad + C)
- Common Usage: V7 chord in G Major or G Minor… or Tonicization of a G or Gm chord.
D Sharp Dominant 7th
- Chord Symbol: D#7
- Spelling: D#-Fx-A#-C# (D# Major Triad + C#)
- Common Usage: V7 chord in G# Minor… or Tonicization of a G# or G#m chord.
E Flat Dominant 7th
- Chord Symbol: Eb7
- Spelling: Eb-G-Bb-Db (Eb Major Triad + Db)
- Common Usage: V7 chord in Ab Major… or Tonicization of an Ab or Abm chord.
E Dominant 7th
- Chord Symbol: E7
- Spelling: E-G#-B-D (E Major Triad + D)
- Common Usage: V7 chord in A Major or A Minor… or Tonicization of an A or Am chord.
F Dominant 7th
- Chord Symbol: F7
- Spelling: F-A-C-Eb (F Major Triad + Eb)
- Common Usage: V7 chord in Bb Major or Bb Minor… or Tonicization of a Bb or Bm chord.
F Sharp Dominant 7th
- Chord Symbol: F#7
- Spelling: F#-A#-C#-E (F# Major Triad + E)
- Common Usage: V7 chord in B Major or B Minor… or Tonicization of a B or Bm chord.
G Dominant 7th
- Chord Symbol: G7
- Spelling: G-B-D-F (G Major Triad + F)
- Common Usage: V7 chord in C Major or C Minor… or Tonicization of a G or Gm chord.
G Sharp Dominant 7th
- Chord Symbol: G#7
- Spelling: G#-B#-D#-F# (G# Major Triad + F#)
- Common Usage: V7 chord in C# Minor… or Tonicization of a C# or C#m chord.
A Flat Dominant 7th
- Chord Symbol: Ab7
- Spelling: Ab-C-Eb-Gb (Ab Major Triad + Gb)
- Common Usage: V7 chord in Db Major… or Tonicization of a Db chord.
A Dominant 7th
- Chord Symbol: A7
- Spelling: A-C#-E-G (A Major Triad + G)
- Common Usage: V chord in D Major or D Minor… or Tonicization of a D or Dm chord.
B Flat Dom 7th
- Chord Symbol: Bb7
- Spelling: Bb-D-F-Ab (Bb Major Triad + Ab)
- Common Usage: V7 chord in Eb Major or Eb Minor… or Tonicization of an Eb or Ebm chord.
B Dominant 7th
- Chord Symbol: B7
- Spelling: B-D#-F#-A (B Major Triad + A)
- Common Usage: V7 chord in E Major or E Minor… or Tonicization of an E or Em chord.
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Dominant Seventh Chord Names & Spellings (Flashcards)
For quickly learning to name and spell the most commonly used Dominant 7th Chords (just as you spell any four-letter word in English)…
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Dominant Seventh Chord Practice, All Spellings
Root position Dominant Seventh Chords played melodically and harmonically, arranged chromatically ascending in all spellings…
Sample at 100 beats per minute…
Dominant 7th Chords, All Keys (MP3 Play Along Tracks)
The benefits of playing along with a click track at various tempos cannot be overstated: very slowly at first to have enough time to “think about everything”, then fast enough to be forced to “play without thinking”.
For a donation to the website (Donations Page) Frank would be happy to send you his personal collection of zip files that include high-res PDFs of the scores and MP3 play along practice tracks for the entire Piano-ology study aids library. This includes all practice tracks for scales, chords, and chord progressions produced to date.
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learn more… Chords & Chord Progressions