Understanding Seventh Chords in Improvisation

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

What is a Seventh Chord?

To briefly cover what a seventh chord is:

• Extended Chord: A seventh chord is a type of extended chord.
• Triad: This means we've taken a triad, a three-note chord (the major and minor chords you've used probably since day one when you picked up the guitar).
• Adding Notes: An extended chord adds notes to those triads, resulting in more complexity as there are more notes competing for your attention.

Types of Seventh Chords

The three types of seventh chords we have are:

1. Minor Seventh
2. Major Seventh
3. Dominant Seventh

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

• Minor Seventh: Kind of a moody, bluesy vibe to that one.
• Major Seventh (C Major 7): To me, that has a much more dreamy, jazzy vibe.
• Dominant Seventh: This one, again, has more of a blues feel, less of a moody blues and more of an upbeat blues.

Chord Construction

There are varying constructions of those chords. If you're interested, it's definitely worth chatting with your teacher about the chord construction of those chords. Again, this is something that's covered in the Rock School syllabus as well, if you have those books.

Blues-Based Improvisation Ideas

Now, 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 now we're dealing with seventh chords. Obviously, we have an additional chord tone to contend with, which is the seventh degree.

Example of Dominant Seventh Chords

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

• A7: You can see how similar that looks to a standard A major chord. I've removed my little finger, and now I've got this extra G note in there, as well as my root, third, and fifth. There's a flattened seventh in there as well.
• D7: I'm going to set that up on a loop.

I'll start playing through the chord tones of each of those chords, and you'll hear how the seventh sounds along with the root, third, and fifth.

Here we go!

• A7 and D7.

Playing Around with Seventh Chords

Let's play some seventh zone.

• That's my seventh to the root, third to the seventh.

I got a bit carried away there; that was good fun! You can see how enjoyable it can get.

What I wanted to demonstrate was how cool the seventh sounds over those dominant seventh chords. It has a real pull to it. In those early phrases I was doing, I was resolving the seventh up to the root note of that chord.

This approach adds authenticity to blues ideas, using just those two notes alone and playing with the octaves and positions.

Experimenting with Chord Tones

I started to branch out and improvise with the other chord tones. You'll often find the two chord tones that have 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.

You would think the root note plays a huge role, and obviously it does, but usually that root note is covered by many other instruments in an ensemble, so the guitarist doesn't necessarily need to play that.

You can create some really cool-sounding blues ideas by focusing on those smaller chunks of a seventh chord.

Practical Application

I can show that to you now. This is again with A7 and D7, but only using the flattened seventh and the third.

So, over the A and the D:

You can hear that even without the need for a root note at the bottom, you can still imagine what those chords sound like in their fuller contexts.

Final Thoughts

It's important to experiment and have control over spotting where that seventh is, honing in on it along with the third. Coming up with rhythmic or melodic ideas that focus on these two core important chord tones is valuable.

Try this next time you encounter any type of seventh chord. We've demonstrated with dominant sevenths, but it's equally as useful:

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

So give it a go and have fun!