Jazz Piano Lesson: Diatonic 7th Chords, All Major Keys

Lesson Goal: To quickly internalize the chord types, chord symbols, chord spellings, and RNA for the Diatonic 7th Chords in all major keys…

Table of Contents

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Prerequisites

Basic music reading skills… the LOVE of music… and the discipline to study and practice.

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Study & Practice Tips

1. Play with a click track at various tempos: very slowly at first (60-80 bpm) to have enough time to “think about everything” and enough time to absorb the unique sound-feeling of each chord with respect to the key center, then fast enough (200-240 bpm) to be forced to “play without thinking”.
2. Get your hand into position for each chord before it’s time to play it.
3. Use the sustain pedal to connect each chord.
4. Extra Credit: Pick one of the voices and sing each note out loud using its letter name, scale degree, or Solfege syllable.

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Why You Should Learn the Diatonic 7th Chords in All Major Keys

1. You will see how scales and chords are inseparable, interrelated views of the same musical stuff.
2. You will appreciate how knowing your scales helps your know your chords and how knowing your chords helps you know your scales.
3. You will integrate reading, theory, ear training, and visuospatial keyboard awareness.
4. You will begin to really “know your way around the piano”.
5. You will build a huge chord and scale vocabulary that enables you to “speak” the language of music in a wide variety of contexts.

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7th Chords in C Major

Here’s one possible rendition of the diatonic 7th chords in C Major: chord roots in the left hand (showing the scale degrees and Solfege) and block chord voicings in the right hand (showing the letter names and Roman Numeral Analysis)…

Listen to Frank demonstrate one way to play this at 100 beats per minute…

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Expert Study Tip: It is appropriate think of the diatonic 7th chords in C major as a set of musical words. And so, an extremely effective learning method is to read, play, name, and spell each chord out loud. For example, you can say “The one chord (IM7) in C Major is C Major 7th (CM7), C-E-G-B, the two chord (ii7) in C Major is D minor 7th (Dm7), D-F-A-C”, etc.

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7th Chords in D Flat Major

Here’s one possible rendition of the diatonic 7th chords in D Flat Major: chord roots in the left hand (showing the scale degrees and Solfege) and block chord voicings in the right hand (showing the letter names and Roman Numeral Analysis)…

Listen to Frank demonstrate one way to play this at 100 beats per minute…

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7th Chords in D Major

AHere’s one possible rendition of the diatonic 7th chords in D Major: chord roots in the left hand (showing the scale degrees and Solfege) and block chord voicings in the right hand (showing the letter names and Roman Numeral Analysis)…

Listen to Frank demonstrate one way to play this at 100 beats per minute…

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7th Chords in E Flat Major

Here’s one possible rendition of the diatonic 7th chords in E Flat Major: chord roots in the left hand (showing the scale degrees and Solfege) and block chord voicings in the right hand (showing the letter names and Roman Numeral Analysis)…

Listen to Frank demonstrate one way to play this at 100 beats per minute…

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7th Chords in E Major

Here’s one possible rendition of the diatonic 7th chords in E Major: chord roots in the left hand (showing the scale degrees and Solfege) and block chord voicings in the right hand (showing the letter names and Roman Numeral Analysis)…

Listen to Frank demonstrate one way to play this at 100 beats per minute…

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7th Chords in F Major

Here’s one possible rendition of the diatonic 7th chords in F Major: chord roots in the left hand (showing the scale degrees and Solfege) and block chord voicings in the right hand (showing the letter names and Roman Numeral Analysis)…

Listen to Frank demonstrate one way to play this at 100 beats per minute…

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7th Chords in G Flat Major

Here’s one possible rendition of the diatonic 7th chords in G Flat Major: chord roots in the left hand (showing the scale degrees and Solfege) and block chord voicings in the right hand (showing the letter names and Roman Numeral Analysis)…

Listen to Frank demonstrate one way to play this at 100 beats per minute…

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7th Chords in G Major

AHere’s one possible rendition of the diatonic 7th chords in G Major: chord roots in the left hand (showing the scale degrees and Solfege) and block chord voicings in the right hand (showing the letter names and Roman Numeral Analysis)…

Listen to Frank demonstrate one way to play this at 100 beats per minute…

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7th Chords in A Flat Major

Here’s one possible rendition of the diatonic 7th chords in A Flat Major: chord roots in the left hand (showing the scale degrees and Solfege) and block chord voicings in the right hand (showing the letter names and Roman Numeral Analysis)…

Listen to Frank demonstrate one way to play this at 100 beats per minute…

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7th Chords in A Major

Here’s one possible rendition of the diatonic 7th chords in A Major: chord roots in the left hand (showing the scale degrees and Solfege) and block chord voicings in the right hand (showing the letter names and Roman Numeral Analysis)…

Listen to Frank demonstrate one way to play this at 100 beats per minute…

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7th Chords in B Flat Major

Here’s one possible rendition of the diatonic 7th chords in B Flat Major: chord roots in the left hand (showing the scale degrees and Solfege) and block chord voicings in the right hand (showing the letter names and Roman Numeral Analysis)…

Listen to Frank demonstrate one way to play this at 100 beats per minute…

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7th Chords in B Major

Here’s one possible rendition of the diatonic 7th chords in B Major: chord roots in the left hand (showing the scale degrees and Solfege) and block chord voicings in the right hand (showing the letter names and Roman Numeral Analysis)…

Listen to Frank demonstrate one way to play this at 100 beats per minute…

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