How To Play Seventh Chords in C
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We're going to take a look at some seventh chords that can be played in open position.
While these chords aren't necessary difficult to play from a technical standpoint, they represent a turning point where the harmonies that we study are going to start to become a little more complex.
I'm not going to really explain the details of how to finger the chords; by this time my expectation is that you can work that out yourself.
Here are the chords:
So any chord can become a seventh chord if you add the to the chord that is a diatonic seventh above the root. In a major key that'll be a major seventh abobe the first and fourth chords, and a minor seventh for the rest of the chords.
You can experiment with these chords by playing them in the place of triads. You can also try to convert other triad voicings you know into major 7th, minor 7th, dominant 7th, and minor 7 flat five chords.
Memorize these diatonic seventh chords from C major, in open position. If you don’t know what a seventh chordA seventh chord is a chord with four parts instead of three. For example, a C major triad is built with 1, 3 and 5 from C (notes: C, E and G). A Cmaj7 would have 1, 3, 5 and 7. (notes: C, E, G, B) is, don’t worry. You’ll learn soon.
Any chord progression can be played as a series of seventh chords instead of triads; for instance, I–IV–V can be played as Imaj7–IVmaj7–V7.
Key Tasks
- Memorize the seventh chords.
- Try playing your favorite chord progression(s) but substitute the triads for seventh chords.
- If you haven’t yet, study how to build seventh chords.
As the creator of Hub Guitar, Grey has compiled hundreds of guitar lessons, written several books, and filmed hundreds of video lessons. He teaches private lessons in his Boston studio, as well as via video chat through TakeLessons.