UNIT 2.

3
HARMONY pt. 3: SEVENTH CHORDS
Review:
Any group of three or more notes sounded together is called a chord.
The notes in the chord are called factors.

For now, we will focus on harmony made up of stacked thirds.

This is known as tertian harmony (tertian = having to do with thirds).

So far we have learned about triads: chords that have three factors.
In tertian harmony, these are the root, a third up from that root, and a fifth up from the root.

Adding a seventh to the mix

Before we talk about 7th chords, let’s have a quick review of the 7th interval.

Remember that 7ths invert to 2nds…

m7=M2
M7=m2
d7=A2

interval number of half-steps example

minor 7th (m7) 10 D to C, E to D, G to F, A to G

major 7th (M7) 11 C to B, F to E

diminished 7th (d7) 9 G to F♭, A to G♭, C to B♭♭

--this is enharmonic to a
M6, but it will be SPELLED
like a seventh.
SEVENTH CHORDS
A seventh chord is formed when an additional note is added a seventh up from the root.
This means that there will be four factors total: root, third, fifth, and seventh.

It is easy to think about seventh chords if we think of it in terms of matching a triad with a 7th.

Name of chord Type of Quality of Example Jazz chord

triad 7th symbol

Major 7th or major major C E G B CM7, CM7, or

“Delta” 7th CΔ7

Dominant 7th major minor C E G B♭ C7

Minor 7th minor minor C E♭ G B♭ Cm7

Half-diminished 7th diminished minor C E♭ G♭ B♭ CØ7

Fully-diminished 7th diminished diminished C E♭ G♭ C°7

B♭♭

The above table is a good summary of seventh chords; let’s dive a little into each type
specifically.
MAJOR SEVENTHS / “DELTA”
SEVENTHS
A major triad and a major seventh.
The intervals from the root: a M3, P5, and
M7.
You may hear these called “major-major”
7ths; everything in this chord is major!
The 7th will only be a half-step away from the
root if it was inverted.
Because of this, these have a sweet yet
pleasingly dissonant sound, like the sun
shining through pastel colors in a stained
glass window.
Do Mi Sol Ti!
DOMINANT SEVENTHS
A major triad and a minor seventh.
The intervals from the root: a M3, P5, and
m7.
These are called “dominant” sevenths
because, if you built a 7th chord based on the
fifth scale degree (the dominant) of any key
and used only notes found in that key
(diatonic notes), you would get this quality of
chord.
These are the Twist-and-Shout chords. Sol
Ti Re Faaaaa!
These have a tangy sound, a sweet major triad
with a salty 7th. Like a PayDay.
About the jazz chord symbol
A triad by itself is implied major.
A 7th by itself is implied minor!
Therefore, we have to distinguish that this is a
major 7th attached to this triad. Therefore,
the “M” or the Greek letter Delta, “Δ”, is
actually referring to the 7th:
“C” is the major triad.
“M7” or “Δ7” is the major 7th.
I like the delta, because it distinguishes this
chord from the minor 7th (see below).
About the jazz chord symbol
As stated earlier, a triad by itself is implied
major. However, a 7th by itself is implied
minor!
Therefore, this is the simplest of the 7th chord
jazz symbols to write;
The triad is major and needs no qualifiers,
and the seventh is minor and also needs no
qualifiers.
“C” is the major triad.
“7” is the minor 7th.
MINOR SEVENTHS
A minor triad and a minor seventh.
The intervals from the root: a m3, P5, and
m7.
The minor seventh is all minor; it has a dark,
rich sound, like the color maroon or dark
chocolate.
Do Me Sol Te!
HALF-DIMINISHED SEVENTHS
A diminished triad and a minor seventh.
The intervals from the root: a m3, d5, and m7.
Only half of this equation is diminished - the
triad!
This sounds spooky but still stable; because
the seventh is still a “normal” interval, it
makes it clear where the Root is. It sounds
purple to me.
Ti Re Fa La!
About the jazz chord symbol
The triad is minor, and needs an “m” to
distinguish that. The seventh is minor, and a
7 by itself is assumed minor.
Therefore, this little m is actually referring to
the triad:
“Cm” is the minor triad.
“7” is the minor 7th.
About the jazz chord symbol
This jazz chord symbol uses the degree sign
we saw in diminished triads, but it is slashed
in half to represent that only HALF of the
chord is diminished; it is to indicate that the
degree sign refers to the triad only, not the
7th!
“CØ” is the diminished triad.
“7” is the minor 7th.
This symbol, Ø, is a letter used in
Scandinavian languages and is the closest I
could get to it in a typing scenario. You will
see me use it sometimes. It’s not perfect but
hopefully you’ll know what I mean.
FULLY-DIMINISHED SEVENTHS About the jazz chord symbol
A diminished triad and a diminished seventh.

The intervals from the root: a m3, d5, and d7.

Everything is diminished. This will be all
stacked minor thirds!
It has a very unsettled feeling, like there’s
nothing really to grab on to. This is because of
its construction; although you can SPELL it to
have a R, 3, 5, and 7, enharmonically it is
infinitely invertible, and therefore it is
impossible to aurally identify exactly which
factor is the root.
This jazz chord symbol uses the degree sign,
but this time it has no slash because the
degree sign refers to both the triad and the
7th; they are both diminished!
“C°” is the diminished triad.
“°7” is the diminished 7th.

Stack minor thirds: C Eb Gb Bbb=A C Eb

Gb…… you could go on forever. Like a spooky
DaVinci perpetual motion machine, or a
movement from George Crumb’s
Makrokosmos.

It also has an unsettled feeling because it

contains TWO tritones; Root - 5th is a
diminished fifth, and 3rd - 7th is also a
diminished fifth.

This is the chord that North American train

horns use, such as the Leslie S-3L or the
Leslie S-5T; the Leslie S-3L was at one point
the most widely-used train whistle in North
America, so if you grew up listening to older
rail lines, this is probably a familiar sound.

Ti Re Fa Le!