LadyDpiano: Another Seventh Chord!

Upright piano from ca. 1900 (A. Jaschinsky) , ...

I found a few piano tutorials on seventh chords online. Here's a few good ones:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLoxE6je7kc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ut6r4JRumHs

We've discussed Major Seventh chords before and how they're built. The second type of seventh chord is called Dominant seventh because it's naturally formed as an extension of the V chord. (The I chord is known as the Tonic, and the V chord is known as the Dominant. So the type of Seventh Chord that occurs on the V is called a Dominant Seventh.) The V often moves to the I. The Dominant Seventh makes that movement even stronger.

G7 to C or G/BDF to CG/CE

The strength of the movement is a result of the strong voice leading that takes place: the seventh of the G7 (F) moves down to thw third of the C chord (E), while the third of the G7 (B) moves up to the root of the C chord (C).

GBDF to E, GBDF to C and BF/CE

You've probably noticed that the Dominant Seventh interval is one half step shorter than the Major Seventh.

C to B = Maj.7 and C to Bb = Dom.7

To build a Dominant seventh chord, simply construct a major triad (2 steps + 1 1/2 steps) and add a minor third (1 1/2 steps) on top:

C to E =2, E to G =1 1/2, G to Bb =1 1/2 ... so, CEGBb

For practice, form and play Dominant Seventh chords (indicated by the symbol 7, as in C7) on the following roots:

F, D, Bb, G, Eb, C, Ab, E, Db, A, B, F#