Recognizing common 7th chord patterns.

Easy ear-training exercises. (Part 2)

Recognizing Major 7, dominant 7 and minor 7 chords.

There are three types of commonly used "7th" chords in music:

• Major 7ths sound like "Jazz" chords.

• Dominant 7ths sound like "Blues" chords

• Minor 7ths sound like a combination of both Jazz and Blues chords.

The structures of each of these chords are based on both the major and minor triads covered in the previous lesson in this series.

Both the Major 7 and Dominant 7 come from the Major triad, while the Minor 7 comes from the Minor triad. A fourth note is added to these triads to form a more colorful, interesting chord.

• The "Major 7" requires the I (root), the III (major 3rd), the V (perfect 5th), and the VII (major 7th).

• The "Dominant 7" requires the I (root), the III (major 3rd), the V (perfect 5th), and the vii (flatted 7th).

• The "Minor 7" requires the I (root), the iii (minor 3rd), the V (perfect 5th), and the vii (flatted 7th).

All three of these chords are exceptionally common in modern music and are ideal substitution chords for basic triads. 7th chords add more color and room for better sounding melody notes.

Practice the following three-chord exercises so that the chords become easier to recognize when they are played.

This exercise may take many times to do. Also, you will need to know how to play major, minor and dominant 7th “barre” chords for this exercise. Assuming you can read tablature, each of the chords will be structured in the tablature below.

Set your metronome at 90bpm. If that’s too fast, slow it down to 70 or 80bpm.

Do these exercises often so that hearing and recognizing the difference between major 7, dominant 7 and minor 7 chords becomes second-nature to you.

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