7th Cord Question

[Quest_bikerider]

This may be a stupid question for you more experienced musicians , but I am just learning the in's & out's of music theory on bass as a relitive newbie, I think I have a resonable handle on the main 7th cord structures of Major, Dominant, Minor & Half Diminished. & how to play there arpaggio's, but whats confused me is, in the book that I am learning from gives a chord progression with which to practice the Maj & M 7th chords musically which are written in the progression as e.g. A maj7, Bm7, but also C7. Is the C7 chord major or minor?, there seems to me no explaination Im assuming its Major but Im probably wrong.Am I missing something?. Also any practice ideas on this would be most welcome Many thanks Marc.

[Doddy]

A dominant 7 chord,like the C7 is a major triad with a flattened 7-in this case C,E,G,Bb (1,3,5,b7)

[MrRatty]

The name "dominant 7" comes from it being formed by adding the 7th to the major triad built on the dominant (5th) note in a scale. So in the key of F major the dominant (5th) is C and a 7th above C is Bb.

I think so anyway!!

[Quest_bikerider]

I know the Dominant 7 uses flat 7 instead of (just 7 which would be major) but am I right in thinking then that a chord written as simply C7 for eg is Dominant in tone?

[JakeBrownBass]

I think your question is more directed at chord charts than the theory behind what notes are in the chord.

In the picture below you from left to right,

[attachment=101502:Screen Shot 2012-03-02 at 14.24.05.png]

C major 7
C minor 7
C dominant 7
C half diminished 7
C fully diminished 7

[OmeDunk]

Hi,

maybe this will help.

A dominant chord (pe C7) is always a major chord. On top of the fifth there is a flat seven. In C: C E G Bb
A Major7 chord is (pe Cmaj7) also always a major chord. On top of the fifth there is a sharp seven: C E G B

So both are majord chords. They differ in the seven.

Edited March 5, 2012 by OmeDunk

[Romberg Bevel]

I think there may be some confusion with the terminology. The 'major' bit of a major seventh chord refers to the seventh, not the triad.

Putting 7 after a chord means add a 'flat' seventh (properly a 'minor seventh') to this triad.
Putting maj7 after a chord means add a 'sharp' seventh (properly major seventh!) to this triad.

If we want to indicate a major triad we just write the letter. Writing C means play a C major triad. So C7 is saying play a C major triad with a 'flat' (minor) seventh added (C E G Bb).
Similarly, if we write Cm, it means play a C minor triad. Writing Cm7 means play the C minor triad with a 'flat' (minor) seventh added (C Eb G Bb)

So C Maj7 is saying play a C major triad with a major seventh added (C E G B).
Cm Maj7 is saying play a C minor triad with a major seventh added (C Eb G B).

Hope this helps!

Edited March 5, 2012 by Romberg Bevel