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7th Chords

Lesson 14 from: Music Theory for Electronic Producers

Tomas George

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Lesson Info

14. 7th Chords

<b>In this lesson, I talk about 7th chords and explain the different types of 7th chords and how you can use them in your own electronic music.</b>
Next Lesson: Chord Extensions

Lessons

Class Trailer
1

Introduction

00:58
2

Basic Music Theory Terms

08:07
3

Keyboard Layout and Octaves

06:19
4

Working out Major Scales

08:58
5

Perfect 5ths

06:42
6

3rds - Part 1

08:05
7

3rds - Part 2

07:39
8

Perfect 4ths

04:36
9

Chords and Inversions - Part 1

10:05
10

Chords and Inversions - Part 2

09:13
11

Chord Progressions - Part 1

10:22
12

Chord Progressions - Part 2

08:26
13

Inversions

08:53
14

7th Chords

09:48
15

Chord Extensions

08:09
16

Suspended Chords

02:40
17

The Circle of 5ths

04:30
18

Minor Scales

08:09
19

Chords in the Natural Minor scale

09:56
20

Harmonic and Melodic Minor

09:30
21

Write the Chords, then the Melody

09:03
22

Write the Melody, then the Chords

18:01
23

Arpeggios

08:00
24

Writing Bass Parts

11:35
25

Writing Bass Riffs and Adapting Melodies

14:10
26

Song Analysis - Chords, Part 1

10:17
27

Song Analysis - Chords, Part 2

05:58
28

Song Analysis - Melody

08:55
29

Song Analysis - Arrangement

07:30
30

Song 2 Analysis - Arrangement

05:04
31

Song 2 Analysis - Chords

08:55
32

Song 2 Analysis - Melodies

06:34
33

Song 3 Analysis - Chords

11:41
34

Song 3 Analysis - Melodies and Arrangement

06:55
35

Create a Song from a Drum Beat - Part 1

10:22
36

Create a Song from a Drum Beat - Part 2

18:47
37

Create a Song from a Drum Beat - Part 3

18:49
38

Create a Song from a Drum Beat - Part 4

08:21
39

Create a Song from a Chord Progression - Part 1

08:16
40

Create a Song from a Chord Progression - Part 2

08:07
41

Create a Song from a Melody - Part 1

07:27
42

Create a Song from a Melody - Part 2

09:05
43

Modes Intro

04:10
44

Ionian

00:43
45

Dorian

04:31
46

Phrygian

02:09
47

Lydian

01:35
48

Mixolydian

02:13
49

Aeolian

00:39
50

Locrian

01:50
51

Dorian Mode Example

09:12
52

Pentatonic Scales

12:27

Lesson Info

7th Chords

Hello. In this lecture, we're going to be looking at seventh chords. So previously, we looked at building a chord with the root, the third and the fifth. And now we're going to have a look at seventh chords, seventh chords is quite basically just adding 1/ note of our chord. But we do have three different types of seventh chords. We're going to be looking at a major seventh, a minor seventh and a dominant seventh. So going back to tone tone, semitone, tone, tone, tone semitone, this is how we can build all the notes on our major scale. And also if we have a look at major minor, minor, major, major, minor diminished major, we can actually build the chords from our major scale. So if we're in C major, we will have ac major chord, then the second will be ad minor E minor, F major G major A minor B diminished and then back to C. So we do have three different types, the major seven, the minus seven and the dominant seventh. So basically, if we have a major chord, it will be a major seventh,...

which is quite literally just the seventh note of the scale. And if we have a minor chord, it will be a minus seventh if you want to stay in the key, which we will for now. And the other one is called a dominant seventh, which is quite strange. But in our scale, the fifth note or the fifth chord in a major scale will give us a dominant seventh might be quite a strange term, but it basically means a major chord but with a minor seventh. So let's go into Ableton Live and I'll explain a bit further the differences between a major seventh, a minor seventh and a dominant seventh and what they actually sound like and how you can use them in your music. So let's actually draw in tone tone, semitone, tone, tone, tone semitone to create a major scale, tone, tone, semitone, tone, tone tone semitone. So here we have ac major scale. So let's draw in ac major chord. So remember it's the root the third. So we can just count up and then 1/5 for five. So it's the C, the E and the G let's add in the second, which is ad minor. So we have the root third and then the fifth just counting up one, 2345. So just using the notes that in the scale and the other one was a dominant seventh, which is the fifth note or the fifth chord of the scale. So if we count it 512345. This is a G. So let's add in A G and then we have 123. Let's continue this scale up here to, to tone semi town to town, tone semitone. And so we have one, 2345. So it's this cord. So all we have to do is just add on the seventh note. If we just look on the side here, we have the notes of our major ski. So we have 1234567. So this will give us A B. So the seventh of AC is A B and looking at the note above which is the octave, it's just one semitone between them. For so for a major seventh, the gap between the top note the octave and the seventh is just one semitone. Let's have a look at this D minus seven. So we have 1234567. So it's ac, an octave above the root which is ad is here. This is a bigger gap you can see here this is one semitone and this is two semitones. So a major seventh has the gap of two semitones. So you can quickly see here, this is a major seventh and this is a minor seventh. And don't forget the second one is actually a minor cord. So this is ac major seventh because it's ac major chord. We have also 1/7 which fits in the scale. And the second is ad minor chord with 1/7. So it's ad minor seventh and the third is a G major. But like I said before, we have a minus seven. So it's a G major minus seven or called a dominant seventh. So basically, let's add on the seventh note. So we have 1234567. We'll give us this f so this is a G major chord with 1/7 and the gap between the seventh and the root, which is a G. So it's one two, it's two semitones, same as the minor. So it has a minor seventh, but it's a major chord which is called a dominant seventh. The only one in the scale is the fifth chord. So just remember the fifth is the dominant. So let's just play these three and you can hear the difference between a major seventh, a minor seventh and a dominant seventh. That's the major seventh. We have a listen to this again, gives us a bigger richer sound. Then without the seventh, I'm with the seventh sounds a bit jazzier. I guess you could say just a bit wider, more color. So it really depends on what type of music you want to create. If you want to create something that sounds a bit jazzy or a bit more color or depth to it. Maybe consider considering adding 1/7 or a major seventh. This one is a minor seventh, similar kind of thing sounds a bit more moody to me than the major seventh. Let's take off the seventh. This is with the seventh. The best thing to do is experiment yourself and go in and just play around with the chords, maybe try them as the seventh and just use your ear and see which one you like the best. And now let's try the dominant seventh. This one sounds quite jazzy too to me and without the seventh with the seventh. So this is so this is basically how you can build 1/7 into your course. So just remember if it's the fifth chord or the fifth note of the scale, it will be a dominant seventh. So it's a major chord with a minor seventh. We know it's a minor seventh because there's two semitones between the seventh and the root note of the chord for a minor chord. All we have to do is count up seven notes of the scale of the key word in not of the of the chord. So seven note notes of the key. So use tone tone semi toone, tone, tone tone semitone to find the notes of the scale, then just count up the seventh note and this will be two semitones away from the root position of the chord also. So if we're d minor should be this one here, which is ac and then the major seventh has just one semitone between the route seventh and also the octave of the root. So seventh notes above the root, give us the seventh and it's just one semitone between this and the octave of the root position. So this is basically what 1/7 chord is and how you can use it for your music. So just remember an example of a major seventh in C major is of course, C major seven. And this is how we write it, just N AJ seven. You can also use a little triangle. This is more the jazz kind of way of writing it. But if you see ac triangle and a seven, this will mean the C major seven minus seven, you're right. Uh min or min. So D min seven is D minus seven. And this can be used as a little dash like this, but this is more jazz music and then dominant seventh is just G7. So if we're in the, the scale of C major, the fifth chord, the fifth note is G and if you want to turn this into 1/7 it will be a G dominant seventh. So it's basically a G major M seventh. So it's a G major chord of a minus seventh. But you wouldn't really call it that, calling it A G major minus seventh is a bit long and a bit complicated. Just G7 is what you call it. That's basically the terminology, it's a dominant seventh G7. So this is basically how we create major minus sevenths and dominant sevenths for our music in our scale. So just remember to go back to tone tone semi toone, tone, tone tone semitone. I've said it 100 times, but this will allow you to work out the notes of the scale. And that way, it's really easy to build your seventh chords. And eventually you will just internalize the notes in the scale. C major is quite an easy one because it's just the white notes. But for example, if you're using D major or G major or F major, there's a few differences that you will need to look at and using this pattern, tone tone semitone, tone, tone tone semitone. And of course, using the major minor, minor, major, major, minor diminish major to work out the core types. And then it's really easy from there. Just use the notes of the scale build up as 1/7. And now you should know the differences between a major seventh, a minor seventh and a dominant seventh. So, thank you for watching this lecture. I hope you found it useful and I'll see you in the next one.

Class Materials

Bonus Materials

Music_Theory_for_Electronic_Producers_PDF_Guidebook.pdf

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