7th Chords - Easy Chord Theory

today we are going to learn about seventh chords i'm going to do my best to approach this video uh for a beginner who might be watching but if at any point you do get confused you could go and watch my video on triads and easy chord theory just to get a little more familiar with the basics i will link that video in the description below and then you could come back and watch this one but anyway moving forward there are two parts to a chord the root and the chord quality first let's make sure we know exactly what that means so let's take a random chord name for instance uh c major seven so this is a shorthand symbol for major seven a triangle seven is the same thing as c major seven okay now the root of the chord is always that note name that is at the very beginning of the chord name for instance in this chord it's the c okay so c is the root root note and major seven is the chord quality okay now don't forget to also include any sharps or flats that might be next to that first note name for instance if the chord were c sharp major 7 right what would be the root note the root note would be c sharp because c sharp is the full name of that note because c sharp is a different note than the note c so c sharp is the root and major 7 is the chord quality so basically if you want to find the root note of a chord you're just going to look at the very first letter in the chord name and then any sharper flat that might be next to that letter okay if the chord were uh a flat 7 sharp 11. what would be the root the root note would be a flat right and then 7 sharp 11 is the chord quality so even though there's a sharp there we ignore that that's still part of the chord quality so the root note is always just going to be the very first letter in any sharper flat that's right next to that letter any other sharps or flats in the chord name like this sharp for instance that's part of the chord quality okay if we had the chord uh b flat minor seven okay what would be the root note the root is the b flat okay so this is the root b flat and then minor seven is the chord quality okay so see that flat is part of the root right the note that's a that is a note b flat it's different from b okay so b flat is the root minor seven is the chord quality if the chord were just b minor seven what would be the root note the root note would just be b and minor seven would be the chord quality okay last one uh d minor seven flat five what is the root note the root note is just d right and then minor seven flat five is the chord quality got it now all chords have what i like to call formulas so i'm going to write out the formulas for our seventh chords so our seventh chords are all built from these formulas and they're built from the major scale of the root note of the chord okay so what does that mean exactly let me break it down for you so let's say we are trying to figure out the notes in a c major seven chord okay so our chord is c major remember major shorthand is a triangle c major seven okay so first things first we're going to think about the major scale of the root note okay so what is the root note the root note is c right so we're going to think about a c major scale so i'm just going to write one out right here c d e f g a and b okay then i'm going to number uh the scale so i'm going to sort of assign one two three four five six and seven so i'm thinking of the scale as sort of like scale degrees okay so assigning each note in the scale a number and then i'm just going to plug in these notes that are in the scale uh according to the numbers into this formula so let's first look at what is the major seven formula okay because the chord quality is major seven right so major seven here we're here's our major seven up here right and the formula for major seven is one three five and seven okay so i'm just going to write that first so we have one three five and seven okay so what is the one the the first note or the one in my c major scale well i'm gonna look for the note number one oh it's right there right so c so the first scale degree is c so one then what about the three what's the three the three is can you find it it's e right so c e okay what about the fifth degree which what you notice the fifth scale degree in the c major scale one two three four five it's g right so g and then the seventh degree is b right so c e g and b so that means that if you play these four notes c e g and b in any order on any instrument doesn't matter if you're playing piano guitar ukulele whatever if you play those four notes together you are playing a c major seven chord and it would sound like [Music] c major this let's do another major seven chord so let's do uh g major seven okay so g major seven all right so first things first i'm gonna think what is the root note of this chord the root note is g right g is the root and major seven is the chord quality so first things first i'm going to write out my g major scale okay so g a b c d e f sharp okay then i'm going to number my scale one two three four five six and seven right then i'm going to plug in the major seven formula into this scale okay so what is the major seven formula again one three five and seven right so one three five and seven okay so what would those notes be so the one would be g right because g is the first degree in this g major scale so g is the one what about the three what's the third third degree is b right so g b okay what about the fifth degree what is the fifth note in our g major scale fifth note is d right and then what is the seventh degree um this one's a little bit trickier but don't overthink it it's just f sharp okay so we don't we don't alter it in any way because it just says the seventh right and the seventh is an f sharp right so that is your g major seven chord g b d and f sharp so if you play those four notes in any order on any instrument you will be playing a g major seven chord this is what it sounds [Music] like and you can kind of hear how it sounds uh similar to the c major seven chord right because any major seven chord is gonna have the same sound if you will because the distance between each of the notes is the same so listen here's what the c major seven chord sounds like major seven okay and then here's our g major seven so they're starting these chords are starting in different places but still has the same sound to it because the distance between each of the notes is the same what i mean by that is if we were to analyze okay look at the first two notes in the c major seven chord are c and e right so how many half steps is e away from c so i'm starting on c i'm moving up one two three four moving up four half steps right so the distance from c to e is for half step so now let's look at the first two notes in our g major seven chord so g right to b these are the first two notes in g major seven are g and b okay so i have starting on g moving up one two three four aha again it's four half steps and that the the distance between each of the notes is the same in any major seven chord so that's why they sort of sound the same well they don't sort of they definitely sound the same um because that relationship between the notes is the same distance cool now let's move on to the dominant seven chord if you've ever seen a chord named like a c7 right or g7 or f7 or fsharp7 any note that says one it's just the note name and then the just just the number seven the real name for this chord is actually c dominant seven but we just call it c7 for short okay so c7 is the same thing as c dominant seven okay so let's figure out the notes in a c dominant seven chord or a c7 chord so first things first we're going to well what's the root note of this chord the root note is c right dominant seven is the chord quality but c is the root note okay so first i'm just going to write out a c major scale okay c d e f g a and b right and then remember what i'm going to do i'm going to number that scale one two three four five six and seven mm-hmm okay and then what am i gonna do i'm gonna look for the dominant seven formula right what's the formula for dominant seven it's one three five and flat seven okay so let's i'll write that out so we've got one three five and flat seven okay let's plug the notes into the formula okay so what is the first degree of a c major scale it's just a c right nice and easy what about the third degree what's the third it's e right okay what is the fifth degree one two three four five it's g right okay what is the flat seven all right so this one is where it gets a little bit trickier because you might say hey wait i don't see a flat seven here but there is a seven right so we're going to find the seventh so what's the seventh it's a b right but this formula is telling us we need to flatten that seventh so we're going to have a b flat okay whoa i cannot right well that was a really weird looking b b that's also a weird looking b but you get what i'm trying to do so b flat okay so these are the notes in our c dominant seven chord okay so b flat is our flattened seven because a normal seven is b but if we flatten the seventh degree so if we flatten that b it turns into a b flat okay so these are the notes in our c dominant seven chords c e g and b flat and again if you play just those four notes in any order on any instrument you will be playing a c dominant seven chord or a c7 chord okay so let's listen to what that sounds like [Music] cool okay now let's figure out the notes in a g7 chord okay so g7 so again we're gonna write out our g major scale g a b c d e and f sharp okay and what was that uh dominant seven formula again one three five flat seven right so one three five and flat seven okay interesting so what would these notes be well you tell me so what's the one the one is g oh i forgot the number the scale that might help you out a little bit one two three four five six and seven okay so the first the first degree in the g major scale is g right it's pretty straightforward what about the third g a b right b is the third degree what about the five d right what about the flat seven all right this one's a little tricky okay so what is the normal seven so not a flat seven but just a normal seven normal seven is an f sharp right okay so this is telling us we need to flatten an f sharp so what does an f sharp turn into when you flatten it do you know it turns into an f natural okay here you can see on the keyboard here's my f sharp and if i flatten the f sharp if you find any note you just move it down a half step so if i were to move this note down a half step it goes to to the f natural so that's why if we flatten enough sharp it becomes f natural so f natural and there you have it these are the notes in our g dominant seven chord so g b d and f if you play those notes any order any of the instrument you'll be playing a g7 or g dominant seven chords let's listen to what that sounds like so [Music] and you might be able to hear that um the dominant 7 chord has a sort of sound to it as well just the way the same way a major 7 chord has a sound for instance this was our c dominant 7 chord [Music] right okay then here's our g dominant seven chord seven okay and actually a really good exercise is to practice singing these different notes in these types of chords because it's good to sort of have an understanding of just the sound of a of all these different types of chords in your head what i like to sing for major seven chords is [Music] so good things to practice singing uh starting on every single note not just those two but for the sake of this video we're just doing only a few root note examples okay we'll do one more dominant seven chord let's do a d flat seven okay so d flat seven chord or d flat dominant seven okay and so first let's write out our d flat major scale okay d flat e flat f g flat a flat b flat c okay and then i'm gonna number my scale one two three four five six and seven okay so i'm going to write down the formula for a dominant seven chord so that's one three five and flat seven right then let's plug in the notes into the numbers okay so what's the one the one is d-flat right d-flat what about the three what's the third degree f right d flat e flat f so f is the third degree what about the fifth degree well it's a flat right a flat okay so we have d flat f a flat and then what's the flattened seventh what do you think it is c flat right because the seventh is a c natural see c is the seventh we have to flatten that so it turns into c flat okay and yes c flat is a real note if you think it's not a real note i have a whole video for you to watch about something called enharmonic equivalence which i will link in the description below okay so d flat f a flat and c flat these are the notes in our d flat seven or d flat dominant seven chord let's listen to it d flat f a flat c flat okay and remember c flat the note c flat is just the same as the note b right they're in harmonic equivalents because here's c and if we flatten a c it moves down a half step it just it's the same as the note b so this is our c flat so we have d flat okay now let's look at a minor seven chord okay so let's let's just start with a c minor seven chord and you know sometimes you might see it written like c lowercase m seven or sometimes a c and then a minus symbol and then seven those both mean c minor seven okay so first things first we're going to what's the root note of this chord it's a c right so we're going to look at a c major scale okay so c d e f g a and b sorry good friend c major we're going to number our scale 1 2 3 4 five six and seven okay so what is the formula for a minor seventh chord well let's look it up it's one flat three five and flat seven i'm gonna write that here one flat three five and flat seven okay so let's plug in the notes into the numbers okay so what is the one the first degree of our c major scale is a c right nice and easy okay what about a flat three so what's the third degree third degree is e right so it's going to be e flat because we're going to just flatten that third because that makes sense it's going to be e flat okay what is the fifth degree the fifth degree is g right so just good old g and what about flat seven oh what's the seventh the seventh is b then we flatten it so it becomes b flat and voila these are the notes in our c minor seven chord c e flat g and b flat so let's listen [Music] all these seventh chords are so pretty aren't they all right so let's look at another one let's look at a g minor seven chord so g minor seven okay so i'm gonna write out my g major scale okay g a b c d e and f sharp and i know i'm using the same uh scales over and over again but that's because i want you to sort of get see the patterns and sort of recognize it i think that's a good thing to do so here's my g major scale i'm gonna number it one two three four five six and seven all right then what is the minor seven formula minor seven it's one flat three five and flat seven right so one flat three five and flat seven okay so let's plug in these these notes into the numbers so what's the one what's the one in g major it's just a g right what about a flat three all right well what's the three three is b so it's going to be b flat b-flat okay what about the 5 5 is going to be d right d okay and then what about the flat 7 okay again we have we had it before in our dominant seven but it's the gonna be the f natural right because the f sharp if we flatten it becomes f natural right so the notes are g b flat d and f these are the notes in our g minor seven chord okay so let's listen to what it sounds like [Music] okay so we had for our c minor seven cool okay so just for the sake of craziness let's look at a c flat minor 7 chord okay so c-flat minor seven first we're gonna look at the root note right so what's the root note the root note is c-flat okay i'm gonna write out a c-flat major scale so that's c-flat d-flat e-flat flat g flat a flat and b flat and literally every single note in your c flat major scale is flattened okay and let's number it so one two three four five six and seven okay so let's look at the minor seven formula what's the minor seven formulas one flat three all right five and flat seven okay and now let's plug in these notes so what's the one the one is c flat right okay what is the flat three all right this is where it gets a little weird this is why i wanted to just show you one weird example so that you could see what happens in these scenarios okay flat three well the third degree is an e flat so what happens if we flatten an e flat oh gosh well this is what we call an e double flat so yes that is a real thing e double flat and that is the correct uh thing to call it okay c c flat e double flat what about the fifth degree okay fifth degree is g flat okay so g flat okay what about the flat seven okay well normal seven is just b flat so we need to flatten a b flat so that becomes what does that become do you have any ideas it's a b double flat right because we had a b flat and we have to flatten the b flat becomes b double flat okay so pretty crazy let's look at these notes visually on the piano so we have c flat so c what's c flat c plus is the in harmonic equivalent of the note b okay so here's my c flat and then i have e double flat okay so let's find here's my e right and then i'm going to double flatten it so e flat e double flat so e double flat and the node d are the same note okay so i have c flat b double flat okay then the next note is a g flat right so where's my g flat it's right here right so c double flat g flat and then i have a b double flat okay so where is the d double flat level so here's b flat right okay and then if i flatten a b flat it goes to this note which is a right this is a and b double flatter and harmonica so this is a c flat minor seven chord okay cool so now let's look at the half diminished chords okay so we're gonna first look at a c half diminished seven chord okay so one uh very common symbol for it is c and then a little circle with a slash through it like that and then the number seven okay so if you ever see this it means c half diminished seven okay so another way this could be written is c minor seven flat five that's another way to write out a c half diminished and um the reason why it's c minor seven flat five is well if you just imagined c minor seven so if you ignored that flat five what's the formula for a minor seven chord it's one flat three five and flat seven right but what's the formula for a half diminished chord it's one flat three five five flat seven what is the difference between the minor seven formula and the half diminished formula tell me what's the difference between these two formulas they both have a one right they both have a flat three ah there's a difference between here this one has a normal five and this one has just has a flat five and they both have a flat seven so the only difference between these two is that the half diminished seven has a flat five and the minor seven does not so that's why half diminished can also be called a minor seven flat five because it's the same thing as a minor seven chord with a flattened fifth so c minor seven flat five another name for c half diminished got it so let's figure out the notes in a c half diminished seven chord so for what's the root note the root note is c right so we're gonna look at our c major scale so c d e f g a and b and we're gonna number one two three four five six and seven okay and let's write out the formula for half diminished we have one flat three flat five and flat seven cool all right so what's the one the one is c right what about the flattened third flattened third is e flat right what about the flattened fifth well the fifth is g right so it's going to be g flat and what about the flattened seventh it's going to be b-flat all right well there you go c e-flat g-flat b-flat that's our c half-diminished seven chord if we play those four notes in any order on any instrument we are playing a c half diminished seven chord so let's listen to what it sounds like we have c e flat g b and for this one i usually sing [Music] now let's look at a g half diminished seven chord so g half diminished seven or g minor seven flat five right those would be the two different ways i could see this written all right so first let's what's the root note the root note is g so let me write out my g major scale so g a b c d e f sharp okay and i'm gonna number it one two three four five six and seven right okay then what's the formula the formula is one this is for half diminished seven right it's one flat three flat five and flat seven right okay so let's plug in the notes what's the one one is g it's a flat third b flat right what's the flat five d flat right and what's the flat seven okay it's uh well f sharp it becomes f natural right when we flatten an f sharp it becomes f natural so g b flat d flat and f let's listen to what that sounds like okay cool all right only two more chord types left so now let's look at the fully diminished seven chord okay so let's look at a c diminished seven okay so c diminished seven and a shorthand for diminished is just a little circle so half diminished it's a circle with a slash through it and fully diminished is just a circle so c diminished seven and we usually refer to it as c diminished seven not c fully diminished seven but it's the same thing so fully diminished and diminished are the same half diminished is a different type of thing okay so c diminished seven same thing as c fully diminished seven so c diminished seven first let's what's the root note the root note is c right so we're going to write out our c major scale so c d e f g a and b okay now let's number it one two three four five six and seven okay what is the formula for a fully diminished chord it is one flat three flat five right and then double flat seven right double flat seven wow okay so getting pretty serious here so what is the one the one would be c right what's the flat three e flat right okay what is the flat five g flat right what is the double flat seven all right well let's stop and figure this out so what's the seven the seven is just b and if we flattened a b two times it is b double flat so this is going to be b double flat got it and this is these would be the correct note names for this the notes in this chord okay so the notes in a c diminished seven no matter what instrument no matter what order r c e flat g flat and b double flat okay so we have c e flat g flat and then b double flat is the same thing as the note a right because here's b b flat a right so that's our fully diminished 7. [Music] all right cool let's look at a g diminished 7 now okay g diminished 7. so let's first write out our g major scale g a b c d e f sharp okay we're gonna number it one two three four five six and seven okay the formula for a fully diminished is one flat three flat five and double flat seven okay so now let's plug in the notes into the formula so what's the one the one is g right what's the flat three the three is b so it's b flat right what's the flat five that's supposed to be a flat okay what's the flat five well five is the d right so it's going to be d flat okay and what's the double flat seven okay well the normal seven is f sharp and if we double flatten an f sharp but let's see on the piano so here's my f sharp if i flatten it two times so if i find it once first it just becomes an f natural if i flatten it again it becomes this note right here which is an f flat okay it's also the same as an e but we're going to call it f flat okay and how come we call it an f-flat and not an e technically look if you were to refer to this as an e instead of an f-flat to another musician they wouldn't know what you mean or if you wrote in the note e instead of the note f-flat on a piece of music any professional musician would know you know okay it's that they know they're the same note so it doesn't matter um but technically if you want to know the exact technical correct note name to call it you would refer to it as an f-flat instead of an e okay because as you can see f-flat here's f f-flat and e it's the same note it's the same pitch but just two different note names okay this are the notes g b-flat d-flat and f-flat let's listen to them okay so we have g b-flat there you go and last but not least we have the minor major seven chord okay so the minor major seven first let's look at a c minor major seven okay um sometimes you're gonna see it written like this c minor major seven okay that would be one way uh like shorthand way it could be written out okay so let's figure out what this c minor major seven chord is or what the notes are in it so first what's the root the root is c right so we're going to write out our c major scale c d e f g a and b all right okay and i'm gonna number it one two three four five six and seven okay now what is the formula for a minor major seven chord it is one flat three five and seven okay so let's plug the notes into the formula so what's the one the one is c what's the flat three flat three is e flat right what is the five the five is g right and what's the seven seven is b all right and there you have it that is our c minor major seven chord so let's listen to it now why is it called a minor major seven chord i just want us to sort of look at this really quickly okay so when there's a non-flattened seven so if you just see a normal old seven and you don't see a flat seven in one of the formulas that is in what we would call a major seventh and what i'm talking about is the interval between the root note and that seventh note is a major seven interval okay from so for instance from the note c to the note b that's a major seven interval now if we have a flat in the seventh that suddenly becomes a minor seventh interval for instance the note from c to b flat that would be a minor seventh interval so if you look at the c minor major 7 chord so the c minor chord so if i were to just play a c minor triad and again if you don't know about triads go watch my video about triads i'm going to link it below but a c minor triad is c e flat and g okay so that's what we call that's these are the notes in a c minor chord okay this is my minor triad and then so if i just take a minor triad and then i pop a major seventh note on top of it which is my b see so i've got a minor triad and i'm just popping that major seventh note which is the b the seventh right it's not a b flat it's a b so it's a major seventh on top that's uh what we get when we have a minor major seventh so it's literally in the name of the chord minor it's like a c minor right and then with a major seventh right c minor major seven got it and actually another name for a dominant seven chord is a uh major minor chord so not minor major but major minor seventh chord major minor seventh okay that's another name for dominant seven because look the one three five that's my major triad right c e and g that's a c major chord so it's a major triad with a minor seventh added to it with a see that b-flat so major triad with a minor seventh so that's why it's a major minor seventh this one is a minor major seventh this is almost always referred to as a dominant seven chord yeah it's what you're gonna order just a seven chord you're rarely going to see it referred to as a major minor seventh chord but um if it's referred to as major minor seventh you can see how literal that name is right cool okay and last but not least let's just look at a g minor major seventh chord okay so g minor major seventh chord okay so g major scale g a b c d e and f sharp i'm gonna number it one two three four five six and seven okay what's the formula the formula for a minor major seventh chord is one flat three five and seven okay right minor triad with a major seventh on top okay so what's the one the one is g what's the flat three b flat what's the fifth d and what's the seventh seventh is f sharp right we're not altering that seventh it's not flat seven it's just normal at seven the normal seven is an f sharp so yes in this part it is true we have a flat and sharp all in one chord name that is totally possible and valid okay so we have g b flat d and f sharp okay g b that is our g minor major seven chord and you did it we got through all of the seven chords just now so hopefully this made sense um i do have worksheets uh that you can practice uh more of these seven chords um and you can download the pdf worksheets in a link in the description below i recommend uh doing that because it definitely helps to reinforce what we learned in this video and also practicing uh what you know the notes in these types of chords you know in other other with other root notes not just c and g for the sake of time i just wanted to stick to just chords that started with the note c and the note g but in the worksheets we break it down into uh chords that start with all kinds of different root notes so i strongly recommend checking those out and i have many other music theory worksheets as well record charts all kinds of fun stuff so check it out so thank you guys so much for watching i hope you enjoyed this video if you did don't forget to give it a thumbs up and if you're new to my channel please subscribe and turn on those bell notifications so you can find out when i post my next video i post a video a week and i would love to have you here to check them out and don't forget to leave a comment because it also really helps me out a lot and let me know if you like this video if you have any questions about it maybe what is your favorite type of seventh chord which one do you find the most beautiful i think they're all beautiful um but i think my favorite one is a major seventh chord just purely based on sound it's so beautiful but i do also like diminished seven chords because they're really cool um but they're all cool but what's your favorite type of seventh chord let me know in the comments anyway thank you guys again so much for watching if you want to practice and reinforce what we learned here don't forget to check out those printable pdf worksheets i have in the description below and i will see you guys next week have a good one

Channel: Gracie Terzian

Views: 268,715

Keywords: gracie terzian, beginner, circle of fifths, circle of 4ths and 5ths, circle of fourths and fifths, music theory, easy music theory, chord theory, theory, beginner music theory, guitar, piano, ukulele, music education, free lessons, learn music, harmony, 7th chords, major 7th, minor 7th, dominant 7th, half-diminished 7th chord, fully diminished 7th chord, diminished 7th chord, minor-major 7th chord, minor major 7th chord, minor 7th chord, major 7th chord, dominant 7th chord

Id: iZf8IzoJtho

Length: 38min 3sec (2283 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 29 2021