This chord is also used heavily in jazz music and the addition of the flat seven to the minor triad makes this chord sound less sad then the minor triad alone, while also providing natural motion to the chord progression. This chord is formed by flatting both the seventh and the third scale degrees. Jazz musicians have used seventh chords for the past hundred years or so making the chord synonomus with the genre.Īs we move on through our chordal journey we come to the minor seventh chord. The term dominant seventh comes from the common progression of chords in western music, but that's a subject for a different article. Most call it either a dominant seventh chord or just a plain seventh chord. Most musicians don't refer to this chord as a major minor seventh, however, because the name is just too long. When we take a major seventh chord and flat the seventh scale degree a major minor seventh chord is the result. It also leads us to the world of seventh chords, a tool that composers have used for centuries to add variety and interest to their music. Smooth jazz is notorious for its use of major seventh chords which gives it that relaxed, easygoing kind of feel.
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Whenever I turn to the weather channel on the TV they are always playing some type of smooth jazz. This formed a C major seventh chord and led to my thoughts on the weather. I began by playing a C major triad and then I added the seventh scale degree to the chord. Let's revisit the added seventh that led to my earlier abrupt change of thought. Triads, however, are not the only types of chords we musicians have at our disposal.
These chords have a tendency to sound suspenseful and are great for adding tension to a piece. The last type of triad chord is called a diminished triad and it is formed by flatting the third and fifth scale degrees.
Minor triads sound slightly darker and sadder then their major triad cousins. If I take the third scale degree and flat it (lower it by one half step), then I have made a minor triad. Major triads are the most stable, as far as chords go, and tend to be bright or happy sounding. A triad is a group of three notes played together and a major triad is formed by playing the first, third, and fifth scale degrees in a major scale. I bet you're wondering what made my thoughts shift so dramatically? Well, a major seventh chord has a completely different feeling then a major triad, to me anyway, but I'm getting ahead of myself.Ĭhords come in all shapes and sizes and the most basic of those is a major triad. The C major triad takes me back to my early days as a musician, when I was just figuring out harmony and melody but as I add the seventh my thoughts change to what the weather will be like today.
As I sit in front of my piano, pondering what I want to play next, I doodle around in the key of C and start to play some chords.
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