Chord Theory


We've looked at major (root 3rd 5th), power chords (root and 5th) and minor chords (root,3rd flattened and 5th). To form a seventh chord, you take a major or minor chord and add another note on top. However, there are several different kinds of the seventh which you need to be aware of. Example: This is the scale of G again:


1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

G

A

B

C

D

E

F#

G


The seventh note is an F# and adding this to G major would give a G major seventh chord.

If you flatten the seventh note to F you get an 'ordinary' seventh (called a dominant seventh - G7).

If you flatten the 3rd (to make a minor) and flatten the seventh, you'd have a G minor seventh.

Take a look at the table below:


Chord

1

3

5

7

G major seventh

G

B

D

F#

G dominant seventh

G

B

D

F

G minor seventh

G

Bb

D

F


There are others, but that should cover the 4 strings nicely. There's a full List of sevenths, or you could go on to Other Chords