Piano for Beginners 6th ED - 2016 UK

Playing the piano

A

dominant seventh, sometimes called

the major minor seventh, is a chord

formed of four notes: a root, major third

and perfect fifth (collectively a major

triad) with an added minor seventh (the seventh

tone in the minor scale of the root note). Let us

walk through an example here. To play C dominant

seventh, noted as C7, first form the major triad (C-E-

G). Instead of playing this with the fingering 1-3-5

in the right, or 5-3-1 in the left, you should use 1-2-3

or 5-3-2 respectively. This then leaves your thumb

or fifth finger free to add the minor seventh to

the chord – remember that this note will be three

semitones above the perfect fifth, in this particular

example, B.

As there are four notes a seventh chord will have

a third inversion beginning on the minor 7th itself;

C7 in the third inversion would be B-C-E-G. The

seventh chord is commonly found in jazz and blues

music, as well as traditional rock ‘n’ roll; think Hound

Dog by Elvis Presley or So What by Miles Davis. It is

often used as a resolving chord. This means that

played on its own it may sound unfinished, whereas

followed by a particular major chord it can make an

interesting ending to a bar or piece. The chord that

you have just learnt, C7, resolves to F because C is

the fifth tone of the F major scale. This trick can be

used with any two chords so long as the root note

of the seventh is the perfect fifth of the major chord.

Dominant

seventh chords

Dominant sevenths, sevenths, major minor sevenths, and all that jazz

Playing dominant sevenths See how seventh chords work

Bars 1 and 2

Here you must shift between G major and G7 both in

their second inversions. Use 5-2-1 to play the former so

you can simply add the seventh with your third finger

Bars 5 and 6

An example of how a dominant seventh is used to

change key. The reason this works is because the

seventh of C major (B) is the fourth of F major

Bars 7 and 8

Sevenths are commonly used to end a piece.

Maintain the structure of the triad in the left hand and

just shift your thumb to smoothly move from C to C7

Bars 5 and 6

No sevenths appear in this section as we

have just shifted key. Experiment with

what fingers you use – it doesn’t have to

be strictly 1-3-5 for a triad

“On its own it may sound unfinished, but follow

it with a major chord for an interesting ending”

Audio file

Listen to the audio files

and follow along on your

own keyboard

Give it a try

C F G G7 C C7 F

Bb C Dm Bb C C7 F