Improvisation and Seventh Chords

Okay, so the next thing I'd like to talk about regarding improvisation is seventh chords. If you're unfamiliar with these and you've got the Rock School syllabus, do check out the technical exercises. They're really useful, as you'll find lots of examples of seventh chord voicings and arpeggios that go with those as well. They'll really help you out.

What is a Seventh Chord?

To briefly cover what a seventh chord is, it's a type of extended chord. This means that we've taken a triad, a three-note chord. Chords like major and minor, which you've likely been using since day one with the guitar, are triads.

Extended chords are created when you add notes to those triads to have more notes in the chord. They generally sound a bit more complex because there are more notes "fighting" for your attention.

Types of Seventh Chords

The three types of seventh chords we have are:

• Minor Seventh
• Major Seventh
• Dominant Seventh

Let me play you an example of each of those now:

• Minor Seventh: Kind of moody, bluesy vibe.
• Major Seventh: For example, C major seven. To me, it has a much more dreamy, jazzy vibe.
• Dominant Seventh: This one has more of an upbeat blues feel.

Exploring Chord Constructions

There are varying constructions of those chords, and if you're interested in learning more, it's definitely worth chatting with your teacher about the chord construction of those chords. This is also covered in the Rock School syllabus if you have those books.

Blues-Based Improvisation Ideas

Let's look at some blues-based improvisation ideas and how we can really target in on that seventh note.

We've talked about chord tones before, and with seventh chords, we have an additional chord tone to contend with: the seventh degree.

Example Chords

The two seventh chords I'm going to play with now are:

• A Dominant Seven

  You can see how similar that looks to a standard A major chord. I've removed my little finger, adding an extra G note (the flattened seventh) to my root, third, and fifth.

• D Dominant Seven

Now, I'm going to set that up on a loop and start playing through the chord tones of each of these chords. You'll hear how the seventh sounds alongside the root, third, and fifth.

Playing the Chords

Here we go: there's our A7 and our D7.

Let's play some seventh zones!

• From the seventh to the root.
• Third to the seventh.

Okay, so I got a bit carried away there; that was good fun!

You can see how enjoyable it can get. I wanted to demonstrate how cool the seventh sounds over those dominant seventh chords. It has a real pull to it. In the early phrases, I was resolving the seventh up to the root note of that chord, over the A and the same over the D, taking the flat seventh.

You can come up with some really cool, authentic blues ideas using just those two notes and experimenting with octaves and their positions.

Exploring More Chord Tones

I started branching out and improvising with the other chord tones as well. What you'll often find is that the two chord tones with the strongest relationship to the overall vibe and sound of a chord are the third and the seventh. They play a huge role in the sound.

While you might think the root note would be significant, it often gets covered by many other instruments within an ensemble. Therefore, the guitarist doesn't necessarily need to play that.

You can create captivating blues ideas by playing smaller chunks of a seventh chord.

Demonstration

I can show this to you now. Here's again A7 to D7, but using only the flattened seventh and the third.

• Over the A...
• And the D...

You can hear that even without the root note, you can still imagine what those chords sound like in a fuller context.

Conclusion

Being able to experiment with and have control over spotting where that seventh is, and honing in on it alongside the third, is really important. Come up with some rhythmic or melodic ideas that focus on these two core, important chord tones.

It's definitely worth a try next time you encounter any type of seventh chord.

As demonstrated with dominant sevenths, it's equally useful with:

• Minor Sevenths: Use the flattened third and the flattened seventh.
• Major Sevenths: Use the major third and the major seventh.

So, give it a go and have fun!