Let’s begin our exploration of commonly-used chord voicings for a Dominant 7th Chord with the most basic arrangement of notes…
Dominant 7 Chord Basic Voicing
Root (1) in the left hand and stacked thirds (1-3-5-b7) in the right…
Homework
Using your ears and knowledge of scales and chord structure, “transpose” this voicing to all spellings in three musically-useful patterns:
- Chromatically Ascending: C > Db > D > Eb > E > F > Gb > G > Ab > A > Bb > B > C.
- Chromatically Descending: C > B > Bb > A > Ab > G > Gb > F > E > Eb > D > Db > C.
- Cycle of Dominants: C > F > Bb > Eb > Ab > Db > Gb > B > E > A > D > G > C.
Doing so develops an enormous chord vocabulary that you will know by ear, intellect, eye, and muscle… and lays a rock solid foundation for fluent improvisation.