Seventh Chords

If you already know the primary voicings of traditional style chords: Major, Minor, Augmented, and Diminished, seventh chords are used to give more depth and color to the existing traditional style chords. There are different types of seventh chords that span all styles of music, but I’m going to share with you the basic outline and how to construct a few types of seventh chords.

Before we get to the examples, keep in mind that every seventh chord you come across in your music is constructed from the structure of the major scale. For all the examples below, each seventh chord is constructed through the C major scale with scale degree numbers attached. Every seventh chord will focus on the primary voicings of the 1, 3, 5, and 7 scale degrees.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8/1

C D E F G A B C

1. The Dominant 7th Chord – C7, D7, E7, F7, etc.

1 3 5 b7

C7 – C, E, G, Bb

Major Chord Flat the 7th

The major chord is emphasized in the C7 chord structure, but the key rule with dominant seventh chords is that you flat the seventh scale degree from the major scale. If you see a letter note (A, B, C, etc.) and a number 7 back-to-back with nothing in between, you will have the structure of a major dominant seventh chord.

2. The Dominant Minor 7th Chord – Cm7, Dm7, Em7, Fm7, etc.

In this example, the voicing of the primary chord (in red) has changed from a major chord to a minor chord.

1 b3 5 b7

Cm7 – C, Eb, G, Bb

Minor Chord Flat the 7th

The minor chord is now emphasized in the Cm7 chord structure, but the construction of the dominant minor seventh chords consists of flattening the seventh AND the third scale degree from the major scale. If you see a letter note (A, B, C, etc.) and a number 7 back-to-back with a lower case “m” in between, you will have the structure of a dominant minor seventh chord.

3. The Major 7th Chord – Cmaj7, Dmaj7, Emaj7, Fmaj7, etc.

1 3 5 7

Cmaj7 – C, E, G, B

Major Chord Major 7th

The major chord is emphasized in the Cmaj7 chord structure, but the key rule with major seventh chords is that you keep the seventh scale degree as is from the major scale. Keep in mind the difference between C7 and Cmaj7: It’s the “MAJ” or “MAJOR” symbol that gives the musician the green light to not voice the chord the same as the dominant chord. If you see a letter note (A, B, C, etc.) and a number 7 back-to-back with an “MAJ” in between, you will have the structure of a major seventh chord.

4. The Minor-Major 7th chord – Cminmaj7, Dminmaj7, Eminmaj7, Fminmaj7, etc.

1 b3 5 7

Cminmaj7 – C, Eb, G, B

Minor Chord Major 7th

Like the major 7th chord, the minor-major seventh chord follows the same key rule of keeping the 7th scale degree as is. Keep in mind the difference between Cm7 and Cminmaj7: It’s the “MAJ” or “MAJOR” symbol that gives the musician the green light to not voice the chord the same as the dominant chord.

5. The Augmented 7th chord – Caug7, Daug7, Eaug7, Faug7, etc.

The outline of the augmented 7th chord is similar to the C7 chord structure above.

1 3 #5 b7

Caug7 – C, E, G#, Bb

Augmented Chord Flat 7th

The augmented 7th chord has the same characteristics as the dominant 7th chord. The 7th scale degree is once again flat because of the absence of “MAJ.” If the chord does not have the letters “MAJ” in the chord name, the dominant 7th chord rule takes over. ALWAYS flat the 7th when you do not see “MAJ.”

6. The Half-Diminished 7th Chord – Cm7b5, Dm7b5, Em7b5, Fm7b5, etc.

1 b3 b5 b7

Cm7b5 – C, Eb, Gb, Bb

Diminished Chord Flat 7th

In the half-diminished chord, I take this chord structure if I look at the Cm7 part only and voice the chord from before, I have C, E flat, G, and B flat. Once I have the basic outline of the Cm7 chord, I then flat the 5th scale degree. Therefore, G becomes G flat. It’s always best to voice the chord from left to right.

7. The Diminished 7th Chord – Cdim7, Ddim7, Edim7, Fdim7, etc.

1 b3 b5 bb7

Cdim7 – C, Eb, Gb, Bbb

Diminished Chord Double Flat 7th

The diminished 7th is the only chord that has special instructions for voicing. This chord is the only chord out of the list of seventh chords that you must double flat the seventh note. If you’re unfamiliar with double flats and double sharps, what you do is take a natural note (like A, B, C), make it flat or sharp, and make it flat or sharp again. In the diminished 7th example above, the “B” note is double flat, making the final seventh note an “A” note.

HELPFUL TIP: The half-diminished 7th chord is one flat away from a diminished 7th chord.