Seventh Chords
Another common chord used in Country music is the seventh chord, (sometimes called the dominant seventh chord). Seventh chords consist of four notes taken from the major scale of the same letter name. These notes are the first (1), third (3), fifth (5) and flattened seventh (b7) notes of the major scale, so the chord formula for the seventh chord is:
1 3 5 b7
A flattened seventh (b7) is created by lowering the seventh note of the major scale by one semitone. This is the same b7 note that is found in the Blues scale. Notice that the seventh chord is simply a major chord with a flattened seventh note added.
The G Seventh Chord (G7)
The G7 chord is constructed from the G major scale. Using the seventh chord formula on the G major scale gives the notes G, B, D and F. When the seventh note of the G major scale (F#) is flattened, it becomes an F note.
Play the notes of the G7 chord with the first, second, fourth and fifth fingers of your right hand, individually and then together as shown in example 64.
G7 Root Position
G7 Chord Inversions
Because the G7 chord contains four notes, there are three inversions plus the root position. The following three diagrams illustrate the first inversion (3 5 b 7 1), the second inversion (5 b 7 1 3), and the third inversion ( b 7 1 3 5) of the G7 chord.
G7 First Inversion
G7 Second Inversion
G7 Third Inversion
Example 65 uses all the inversions of the G7 chord. Use the correct fingerings as shown in the diagrams.
