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Actually, that is not exactly what I was talking about. I was just telling you how to find the 7th, not indicating the order it should be played on the piano.

Let's take a F major chord. To find the major 7th, you simply identify the note a half step under F, which is E. That is your major 7th but don't play it there. The F should be the lowest note played. Put the E somewhere else in the chord.

In fakebooks, you usually would not invert unless instructed. With extended chords like we are going to be using in this song soon, inversions are really not even possible. Inversions are usually marked as slash chords in fakebooks.

All right, here is an example of how you might add the 7ths to the original song.



Don't worry if your music is different--they are multiple ways to do this--what matters is how it sounds.

If I note a chord something like IMaj7, the "Maj" refers to the 7th. So it is a I chord (which is major anyway) with a major 7th.

If I note a chord something like V7, the 7th is minor. This is also called a dominant chord (major chord with minor 7th).

If I note a chord something like IImin7, it is a minor II chord with a minor 7th.

Note a few things.

1) I did not force 7ths into every chord. I did do a quick count and noticed I put 7ths in 20 out of the 26 chords. This is probably a typical ratio.

2) Note I moved just a bit away from standard four part harmony but the chord structures have remained identical (except for the added 7ths).

3) Take a moment and make sure you can identify every 7th added and you know why it is a major or minor 7th. Remember our rule--I and IV chords get major 7ths. Every other chord gets a minor 7th.

One thing I want to mention. I encourage everyone to play the original and this latest version side by side and listen for the differences. The major 7th is subtle but profound in the color it adds to music. The minor 7th is also dramatic.

These small modifications add up to a huge difference in the overall sound.

One other thing--if your piano is out of tune, the major 7ths may not sound good.

That's what I thought.. thanks for confirming..

Thanks for the quick reply and advice. This is great- I'm getting better all the time at accompanying, but I need to work more on soloing. Chord substitutions/alterations/additions is something I've always wanted to learn about.

New here and I'm so pleased to have found this! It's exactly what I've been struggling with on my own since getting back to playing after a very long absence. This time around I want to be able to understand what and why I'm playing and acquire the freedom to improvise and use lead sheets. I've always been a "show me the music" player!
I'm OK with understanding the basics in the original but adding the sevenths isn't sounding right to my ear so thank you for adding the second "7th" version. Am off to play it and compare.
Thank you so much for this!

Greg - so far so good - still here with you. No minor major 7th chords, such as Dm(Maj)7 ? Too unusual? Later, maybe?

Regards, JF

JF, there are numerous options such as minor major 7ths that are wonderful.

I am right now trying to teach the most common way 7th chords look. If you played the 7th chord for each note of a scale building the chords with the notes in the scale, you would end up with minor 7ths on every chord except I and IV. So, it is natural that those are the chords that used most often.

Thanks for the clarification, that makes sense. I should learn to read more carefully...

To continue this process, I now want to look at the chords being used. Here are some thing that jump off the page.

1) Every chord but two in the entire song is either a I, IV, or V chord. This is very common in hymns.

2) The two exception chords in this song are the VI and IImin chords found in the last line. Even though these two chords are somewhat out of character, they are very predictable. The VI is a secondary dominant (it might be referred to as a V of II). A secondary dominant usually resolves down a fifth, which would be II. So, the progression is VI7 - IImin - V7 - I. Note that each chord is moving down a fifth through the progression.

3) With the exception of the progression I just mentioned, the chord progressions used could not be more simple or boring. I - V7 - I - V - I - IV - I is not exactly harmonic genius.

If there are any thoughts, let me know. Otherwise, in a day, we will start changing the harmony to something more interesting.

It seemed to me that you didn't add sevenths generally didn't add sevenths at cadence points (except for the half cadence at the end of the first line, but thats on a V chord so its different). Do you find thats generally what works, or is it more of a specific thing for this song?

thermos,

Actually, I don't follow a rule like that. It is more preference. Note that the only chords I did not add 7ths to were I chords. I could have added major 7ths to every one of them including the last one (I often end songs with a major 7th), so it is not about a cadence.

I just think you can overdo major 7ths at least in this style of music--it can get a bit old. You could use 6ths from time to time instead; also, I also would have been more willing to add the 7ths on more chords if I had added other color notes as well.

I hope this makes sense. In general, let your ear be your guide.

Greg - my understanding of the dominant 7th chord is that it can be used on any degree of the scale where a major triad is located (I, IV or V) and not just on the "dominant" (V) degree - for example, instead of a IM7 you could just as easily use a I7 (where the 7th is minor, not major as in IM7) - and that the same thing would apply to the 4th degree. Is this correct? Thanks.

Regards, JF

JF, you are right that you could play a I7 but the function of the chord would be different from that of a I chord or IMaj7. A I7 is really a subdominant (V of IV) and will want to resolve down to the IV chord.

A dominant chord contains a very dissonant interval between the 3rd and 7th (it is called a tritone) that just begs to resolve. So while a IMaj7 chord could be a destination, a I7 would be a step on the way to a destination.

A VI7 chord is a V of ii.
A VII7 chord is a V of iii.
A I7 chord is a V of IV.
A II7 chord is a V of V.
A III7 chord is a V of vi.
You will rarely if ever see a IV7 chord.

So when you see any dominant chord, its function is going to act a certain way. In short, it is going to want to normally resolve either down a fifth or a half step. That is why you can end a song on a IMaj7 but would not likely end on a I7.

Does this make sense?

Down a fifth or a half step? So a G7 chord could resolve to an F#? And then this would be a technique of modulation?

I realize thats probably totally off topic, but a chance to learn is a chance to learn!

So far so good for me here.

So far, so good.

Hi Greg, would you extend this generalization to phrase/verse endings, as well as song endings? Not to say, of course, that you would never do it, but just that such a cadence will usually feel "unresolved" and as such should be done for a specific purpose?

Will

thermos, yes G7 can resolve to F#. The two notes that make this happen are the B and F (a tritone apart). The B resolves down to A# and the F up to F#. Yes, you are correct that this could be used in a modulation.

From a functional standpoint, a C#7 and G7 work alike in that both could resolve to F#, and those with a jazz background will immediately know I am referring to the tritone substitution.

Will, in general, you will not see endings with a dominant chord such as I7, but I should never say never... If there was a intentional decision to end unresolved, go for it. That would be true whether it is the end of a verse or phrase or the end of the song.

To introduce the next step, let's talk a little bit more about cadences. As you can see from this song, the V-I cadence is used over and over. From a harmonic standpoint, the V-I progression works, but can be improved.

The first improvement you can make to a V-I cadence is adding the 7th to the V chord. Play a V-I cadence and then a V7-I cadence and notice the difference.

In modern music, a V7-I cadence is often replaced with a ii7-V7-I cadence. Play this cadence in the key of C (Dmin7 - G7 - I) and compare it to a V7-I cadence.

You might be surprised to learn that many modern songs consist almost completely of ii7-V7-I cadences. And even though that sounds boring, it works.

Changing out the V-I cadences for ii7-V7-I on "Trust and Obey" will make a dramatic difference. That is the next thing that we want to work on.

Let's say that you have a measure of V7. Try changing it to two beats of ii7 and two beats of V7. Assuming that the next chord is a I, you have just created a ii7-V7-I cadence.

Sometimes, you can change the chord right in front of the V chord to a ii7 to create the cadence.

The ii7 chord is basically interchangeable with a V7. When you see either chord in a song, feel free to substitute. More often however, you will play a ii7 AND a V7 to replace either a ii7 or a V7.

In a day, I will get a new version of "Trust and Obey" out here with the ii7-V7-I cadence incorporated. By the way, note that one already exists on the last line.

In the meantime, try it on your own and let me know if there are questions.