{"id":14083,"date":"2016-08-24T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-08-24T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hearandplay.com\/main\/?p=14083"},"modified":"2024-10-07T17:31:04","modified_gmt":"2024-10-08T01:31:04","slug":"what-seventh-chords-are","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hearplaymain.wpenginepowered.com\/what-seventh-chords-are\/","title":{"rendered":"Who Else Wants To Know What Seventh Chords Are?"},"content":{"rendered":"

In today’s lesson, we’ll be learning about seventh chords.<\/p>\n

Seventh chords are important in music because although they are bigger than triads<\/a>, they are not extended chords (with bigger widths<\/a>) that are considered to be harmonically advanced. They are just in between the world of triads and extended chords.<\/p>\n

We’ll also deal with the voicing of seventh chords, but before we get into all that, let’s take some time to do a review on chords.<\/p>\n

The Definition Of A Chord<\/h2>\n

There are so many definitions of a chord out there, which may vary from the simplest to the most complex. However, here is a simple definition of a chord:<\/p>\n

A chord is a collection of three or more related notes (agreeable or not) that can be played (or heard) together or separately.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This definition highlights all the essential keywords in the definition of a chord, let’s go ahead and expound on them.<\/p>\n

Let’s start by taking a look at the part that says, ‘three or more.’ <\/em>It takes three or more notes to form a chord. A chord of three notes is called a triad<\/em> while a chord of four notes is usually a seventh chord (we’ll talk more about this later.)<\/p>\n

The next keyword in the definition of a chord is relationship<\/em>. A chord is a collection of related notes. Inasmuch as three notes can form a chord, the combination of any three notes on the keyboard cannot form a chord, unless there’s a relationship between them.<\/p>\n

There are two types of relationship that can exist between the notes of a chord:<\/p>\n