Simpedia

Ian C., Australia

Its full name is “dominant 7th”, as opposed to “major 7th”, where we actually do play the 7th note in the major scale (i.e. Cmaj7 includes the B rather than the Bb).

Stephen R., California

The Bb is a flatted 7th. Some form of B (whether B or Bb) would be 7 letters up from C. We play it below the C, down a whole step, because it’s a particular “voicing” we’re after in the accompaniment style of playing.

Kym N., California

You usually see C7 being used before an F chord as the key of F has a Bb. Same as G7 (F natural note) which appears mostly before C chords. Level 2’s Amazing Grace is sure a great example for dominant 7th chords.

Mark M., New York

1) There are different types of 7th chords. All the most basic ones will have something related to the 1st, 3rd, 5th, and 7th notes of the scale. The most common 7th chord includes the basic major chord (1-3-5) and the flatted 7th, e.g. C-E-G-Bb. It’s called a dominant 7th, but because it’s the most common, it is most commonly referred to simply as a 7th chord. We need to just accept these kinds of issues in naming chord types because chord naming comes substantially from popular music as opposed to classical music or formal music theory.

2) No matter the type of chord, a “voicing” means you can take its notes and rearrange them in different ways and/or remove one or more, and you can say that it’s still the chord even though it isn’t really.

3) Since a C7 is really a C dominant 7 which by definition is C-E-G-Bb, if we move the Bb below the C and leave out the C, and especially while we keep the C in the LH so that its sound is still present as part of the overall sound, we can say that this way of playing — the way that Accompaniment 1 teaches us — is a voicing of a C7 chord.

Hopefully, this makes sense. If it doesn’t, ignore the fact that this comment is long, and just go back over it, sentence by sentence, making sure each bit is clear before you move on.

Felicity E., Australia

At that level I would just say “there are different types of 7th chords and this one flattens the 7th.” Keep it simple and get yourself to the end of accompaniment.

If looking for another example, they use an altered C7 (9) in Bishop Street Blues and Alma Mater Blues: C E G Bb (+9th). I would only take 30 seconds if they are pressing and just point out the notes. And restructure them until the LH is on C and RH is on Bb-E-G-D.

You could also say, “You will learn some more 7th chords in Accompaniment soon”.

Joy O., Alabama

I think it’s okay to say that we are not teaching advanced music theory today and keep going with the lesson. I love that about Simply Music. Students can learn to play advanced chords and sophisticated sounding music without a graduate degree in music theory.

Shyrl K., Washington

My thought is that it’s all about intervals. The dominant 7 uses a minor 7, which is two half steps down from the root of the chord. That way, it doesn’t matter whether the 7th is a black note or a white note, as long as the note is two half steps down from the root.