7 types of 7th chord EXPLAINED

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0:00 Introduction
0:37 Dominant 7th chord
3:46 Major 7th chord
5:17 Minor 7th chord
6:37 Pianote
7:27 Minor Major 7th chord
9:50 Diminished 7th chord
11:31 Real book chord symbols
12:06 Half-diminished 7th chord
14:31 Variations
15:38 Conclusion
16:33 Patreon

[@DavidBennettPiano]

Try Pianote FREE for 30-Days: www.pianote.com/affiliate/davidbennett 🎹🎹🎹🎹🎹🎹

[@R.Akerman-oz1tf]

Thanx David, I knew the 1st six anyway. Great to learn from You.

[@captainalpaka1551]

Agree

[@steroidsR4losers]

You forgot this --> DimM7

[@sp00ky_guy]

Whenever I'm this early I like to remind everyone that this is the best music theory channel on KZbin, thorough, clear, and super stylistic. Couldn't be any better!

[@arjenbij]

Check out Early Music Sources.

[@haemolacriaa]

open studio jazz is really good too

[@musictheorytree]

Just wait. He's only getting started.

[@HarvenHaven]

8 bit music theory too

[@GizzyDillespee]

If you restrict that to mostly harmonic theory for pop songwriting, I'd agree. If someone wants to learn about microtonal jazz, or maqam, or Indian classical music, etc, there are other options. There isn't much here that's specific to hip-hop, or trap rhythms and so on. OTOH, that allows some space for expansion. The connection with Pianote kinda shows the pop connection. If someone wanted to focus on jazz or classical or gospel, and so on, they might choose another place, but for pop songs, that seems to be Pianote's big thing.

[@bubbillusion]

thanks for this video i showed it to my dog and it didn't seem like he understood but he enjoyed it

[@PianoteOfficial]

David, this video is so good! It was great to have an amazing music theorist like yourself at our studio. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us🙌🏼

[@GemistosPlethon]

The setting has changed, and improved, but the quality remains the same. Good for you, David. You have earned and richly deserve the recognition which this video reflects.

[@DavidBennettPiano]

Thank you 😊

[@zsoltbocsi7546]

@@DavidBennettPiano i must mention the audio is out of sync throughout the video. A clapper board could be handy for recordings like this

[@em_the_bee]

​@@zsoltbocsi7546I don't hear it, are you by any chance on wireless headphones/speakers?

[@unacuentadeyoutube13]

​@@zsoltbocsi7546only the distant camera was out of sync, which is pretty forgivable

[@zsoltbocsi7546]

Broadcast treshold is less than 2 frames. I think it's over five frames. @@unacuentadeyoutube13

[@dragonspider275]

this is really helpful, i've been playing piano for many years and only with this video realized that i've been calling major sevenths dominant sevenths and vice versa. great video!

[@ReZhorw]

Everytime you hit the seventh note of the chords I got chills down my spine

[@jean.marion]

I never knew how the 6th note in a scale could be considered a seventh, until you showed how the diminished fifth changes from where it was to where it goes which drags the 7th down along with it. Made perfect sense when I watched you do that part. Thanks so much!

[@RandyBakkelund]

I'm surprised he didn't mention that the diminished 7th chord has a double flat 7th or bb7, which is still equivalent to a major 6th enharmonically. He kind of did in a simple way though.

[@jean.marion]

@@RandyBakkelund Thank you! That makes perfect sense when put that way. 🤔

[@vbertrand]

Well, it does not. In the case of any C scale, the proper name note names of a Cdim7 chords are : C Eb, Gb, Bbb (That’s B double-flat). For the same reason that you can’t call the diminished 5th « F# » instead of Gb. (That would be a sharp 4th, and make no sense from a theory point of view). Hope this helps.

[@JeffMountainPicker]

Aurgh! That is the part where I get lost! I think I understand the rule that makes a diminished triad. But, how on earth does applying certain chord rules to the scale "So, instead of just adding the diminished 7th, you have to do THIS, and then THAT!... See?😊" NO! I DIDN'T! HELP! Thank you!

[@zzzaphod8507]

@@JeffMountainPicker It doesn't change the scale. Some of the 7th chords are from outside of the scale. There's an alphabetical rule that any 7th chord in C will have to be C with some sort of E (E-flat or E-natural, usually) and some sort of G (G-natural, G-flat, whatever) and some sort of B (B-natural, B-flat, or B-double-flat). So while B-double-flat looks the same as A on a piano, really the proper spelling of it in that diminished 7th chord is B-double-flat due to that rule.

[@timursimanko7174]

This is how the Internet should be used, for fun and easily accessible education. Thank you so much for doing this!!

[@GlennErikMathisen]

15:18 - This is altered chord territory. Learning about the altered scale made me understand tritone subs and unlocked an entire new world of harmony for me. I'm in love with altered chords at the moment. Such a strange cool sound.

[@joshuasmith1680]

The song Icy Cold As Winter by Swing Out Sister uses four descending 7th chords at the end. It's very pretty.

[@misternewoutlook5437]

One thing I notice in my recently arrived song book by The Who is that Pete Townshend really loved playing with chords. In "Our Love Was, Is" it starts with a downward progression and then starts plays with mood chords from that. He was young at the time and becoming stronger as a songwriter. I found out that The Who Sell Out was the first album he began composing songs on piano.

[@jamesdignanmusic2765]

Another great example of the use of the Major 7th is Simon and Garfunkel's song "Old Friends" (which may have been inspired by Satie). And a further variation on the main seven types is D7(#9), which you'll recognise from the Beatles' song "You Can't Do That".

[@DavidBennettPiano]

Yeah great example! 😊😊

[@s.S.a.M.m]

The D7(#9) is also used in Pink Floyd's "Breathe" I think

[@SunshineMix101]

I always learn something from David's vids. It's great to see him colab' with Pianote. :)

[@DavidBennettPiano]

Thank you 😊

[@jbmann4796]

Thank you SO much for the clearest exposition on why these chords are named the way they are.

[@DavidBennettPiano]

I’m glad it was helpful 😊

[@Santiago-ji8rs]

I was just looking this up the other day, thank you!!!!!

[@EtheRenard]

The Minor Major 7th sounds like Zelda tunes when complete a puzzle. The Diminished 7th sounds like the Divine Beasts, with both mystery and oppression linked to it. Thanks for the video, it's very helpful!

[@jkerman5113]

Thanks for this video, this was the one that finally pushed me to understanding how dominant chords work.

[@DesertRat332]

David, I love the way you explain music theory. You are the best. I never understood modes until I watched your videos. I am happy you have joined up with pianote. They continue to have the best piano instructors.

[@LuisLopez-vy5gw]

Thanks David, high quality lesson as usual! I suggested a video about the different 7th chords when you recently asked for suggestions. So glad that you listened! 😇

[@dustybuffalo9973]

Whoa, studio grade David! 👍🏽👍🏽

[@DavidBennettPiano]

😀😀😀

[@wadebelew7714]

I'm a guitar player but have enjoyed your videos to learn theory. Appreciated the improved production value of this vid. David, you do such a good job explaining the sometimes complex world of music so I can understand. Thanks!

[@michaelhawkins4005]

This is gold for a newbie like me, thank you!

[@DavidBennettPiano]

😀😀😀😀

[@ThomasMeeson]

It looks like you've got The Wall behind you

[@wyattstevens8574]

"The wall?"

[@naikigutierrez4279]

@@wyattstevens8574They’re saying that the wall in the background looks like the cover to Pink Floyd’s album The Wall.

[@jamess.7811]

all in all it's,

[@progfox]

​@@jamess.7811just another brick in the wall

[@jello-tarzan]

Thank you! It's always a pleasure to learn from your videos. Cheers

[@nickdemooij]

Loved this video! Learned so much new interesting things today! Thanks!

[@natemorton1473]

I have been watching your channel for a little over a year now and I just want to say thank you. Your videos have helped me grasp music theory in a much more tangible and useful way than any other channel that I know of. Keep up the good work! Cheers!

[@DavidBennettPiano]

Thanks!

[@Poetslove]

Great video as always David!

[@lilischneider9672]

Thank you so much much for this! Not only making things clear, but especially getting the vocabulary sorted, if you are not native English speaking like me. I was music educated in German for 30 years, and your explanation always helps to make sure I got the point right AND talking about it (to fellow musicians or beginner students). 🎵🎷💚

[@s1imple1cs2]

Thanks for this David. the diminished chords are finally clear to me... thank you!

[@DavidBennettPiano]

😊😊😊

[@jeremiahlyleseditor437]

Great Video This was a big help. Thanks again.

[@DavidBennettPiano]

Thank you!

[@robster7316]

Welcome to Canada, David! Lovely summary of the different types of 7th chords. Interesting how simply moving one note by one interval can change the whole "feeI" of a chord. Thought for sure you'd sneak in a few extensions to 7th chords as well, like the Hendrix chord (dom7th #9). ;-)

[@DavidBennettPiano]

Thanks! Canada is a lovely country! And don’t worry, the Hendrix chord is coming in a future episode!

[@richard135b7]

That was a thorough explanation of 7th chords. Thank you. I like playing in major 7th chords alot especially in 2nd inversion.

[@grzegorzgrzybek3736]

As a software developer specializing in the low level details of computing, I appreciate and enjoy your great explanatory videos David. It helps me understand not only how to play, but also why to play.

[@andy_hawkins]

Another great video - thank you! One thing that interested me when I was getting into theory was the interval between the 3rd and the 7th in Dominant 7th. It's a half step short of a 5th which gives it a very unstable and mysterious feel.

[@chrisneyman]

Wonderfully clear and concise.❤

[@cmsmadeeasy]

I found this an incredibly helpful video, so thank you!

[@0bm31770]

It's nice to know why it's called the dominant seventh.

[@moonlikemusic]

Welcome to Canada! I watch your channel from Canada so I got excited to hear you are here right now 🎉❤

[@DavidBennettPiano]

Hi! 😊😊😊

[@composer7325]

Excellent video, thank you, David.

[@DavidBennettPiano]

Thank you!

[@quijaman]

One of my favorite videos yet. I've been learning a lot of new cool stuff to me and theory with your videos and I've been playing for twenty years 😂 Saludos from México

[@PWMoze]

Thanks David, this will put an end to many a rehearsal argument.

[@cathyhughes5321]

Great teaching video.. thanks so much, I understand a lot more now!

[@actuallythepie]

this video looks amazing!

[@DavidBennettPiano]

Thank you!

[@c0ns1d1ne]

Very helpful. Thanks!

[@Riffer19]

Wow, I am in my sixties and only now have i found someone who can explain this simply! Well done!

[@matcoffidis1135]

Great video. Your explanations are very helpful....👏

[@DavidBennettPiano]

Glad it was helpful! 😊😊

[@CraftyOldGit]

Best explanation ever. Thank you.

[@AragonMontagnini-iy3nm]

Thanks for mading all those musical theory content. Helped me very much. I love your channel. Don't stop doing videos!

[@DavidBennettPiano]

Thank you!

[@robertrussell9336]

Hands down the best music instruction I've ever had. Apparently We're all lined up hear to get our next fix. This stuff is either powerful to you or it isn't. Please take my money! No - really.

[@richtrophicherbs]

Some people might be confused at the Cdim7 containing an A - which looks like the 6th degree.The explanation is that the 7th itself is diminished as well as the triad it is added to, so strictly speaking this note is B double flat. In the dim7 starting on Csharp, this note would be Bflat - clearly the seventh degree. Start on D and it would be Cflat.

[@falsenotefest]

You are great, it is always nice to remember this

[@MrMont-ue8kh]

Thanks for another wonderful and well-thought out video. I wondered about what that little triangle meant - I assumed it was something complex, but no - just a maj7. Thanks for that! Although I appreciate Pianote supporting you, and it is good to try new things - strangely, I prefer your single-camera, home shot videos.

[@rabmacleod6331]

Another great video David. Much love from victoria bc Canada

[@DavidBennettPiano]

Thanks so much 😊😊

[@patricklabelle2911]

Nice set up ! freshhhh

[@mariannna7943]

hi!! THANK YOU so so much for this video, it's easy to watch and i finally understood the difference between all these types hehe 🥳🥳

[@DavidBennettPiano]

You’re welcome 😃

[@1oolabob]

Thank you for explaining the chord symbols in depth. A few of them are quite confusing without knowledge of the standard ways they're notated.

[@YodadeCai]

Muy interesante su trabajo. ¡Gracias!

[@bagos2374]

Awesome video! Something really nice to do and understand these chords, is to think that every 7th chord have 2 triads. Dominant 7: C E G Bb (E with a 5b [E to Bb is a tritone]) Major 7th: C E G B; have an Em triad in it. That's why the Maj7 chords are so emotional yet melancholic Minor 7th: C Eb G Bb; have an Eb major chord inside. That's why the Minor 7th chords are kinda sad but insipirationals and bright at the same time. Minor maj7: C Eb G B; have an Eb(#5), thats why the minor maj7 sounds so tense but with an additional flavour Dim7: C Eb Gb Bbb; the chord is simmetrical, every note is 1,5 tones away from each other. Thats why the resolutions and the chord itself sounds so tense. Half diminished: C Eb Gb Bb; the chord have a really tense taste, like the dim7. But the chord is not that strong as the full diminished, because of the minor 7, instead of a diminished 7. Something great too is to think the half diminished as a sub mediant chord, because they are tense but not THAT tense, so can cause move in the chord progression. The half diminished can used like a dominant chord

[@GizzyDillespee]

Minor major 7th chords have an augmented chord inside them (Eb G B). That's why it feels unstable yet upwardly mobile. That's fun, categorizing it like that. You could come up with a whole musical divination system this way, even draw tarot-esque cards for the different archetypes found in each chord... perhaps for the basic chords, even multiple cards (archetypes), context dependant. I'll have to whiteboard this like I was trying to track a serial killer. What a splendid idea. I hope I don't forget by morning, but I don't see how. Of course, I never do, at the time. Thanks for the insight.

[@AutPen38]

I long ago noticed that a major 7th is formed from a diatonic major chord with a diatonic minor chord overlaid from the major third, and that a minor 7th is a minor chord and a major summed together, but it can get really hard to recognise them when - in contemporary electronic music - inversions are frequently used, and/or a bass note is played with one instrument and the rest of the chord played with another. e.g. You could have your bass play an A, and a synth play CEG (or EGC, GCE, or even CGE or ECG) and it would still sum up to an A minor 7th, but some transcribers would call it a C major over A. It's very confusing!

[@jonathandevine504]

When you explained that a dominant 7th cord is 2 half-steps down from the octave, you can also think of it as a minor 3rd (3 half-steps) from the dominant tone (the 5th from the root). When you think of it as a minor third from the dominant tone in a diminished cord, C7 C-E-G-Bb Cdim7 ----> C-Eb-Gb-Bbb (A). Hope this helps someone else understand!

[@richard135b7]

The only 7th chords I was familiar with was the major 7th and dominant 7th. Your content has brought me to a much more sophisticated level of play. Thank you!

[@evenglare]

Just wanted to comment that I've been playing music nearly by whole life. I love music theory just as much as honing the skills to play. These videos are possibly my favorites on youtube. I love the real life examples of chord progressions and the explanation of why something is the way it is. I havent commented before so it was high time I do that and say thank you for the supplemental vids!

[@DavidBennettPiano]

Thank you! That means a lot 😊

[@evenglare]

I do have a question. Is there any material (im sure there is) on how to begin analyzing songs? It's one thing to be told whats in a song, what key its in, chord structure etc. But for instance lets say theres a song I want to analyze. I have the song, im listening to it and im ready with a blank sheet of paper and pencil in hand aaaaand where does one go from there? How does a person begin the analysis? Hope that makes sense. Just wanted to get some direction on how to attack the song. @@DavidBennettPiano

[@sanderpleijsier6292]

One little thing I would change is to refer to the diminished 7th as a B-double flat or Bbb instead of an A when playing the notes on your keyboard

[@annietian1234]

watching this two nights before final music theory exam thank you so much, this helped a ton!!!

[@pearlechristian1944]

Excellent!!!!

[@basebutter]

Thank you for making something that was so confusing before into something understandable

[@Low.Key.Music01]

As a guitar player, I frequent this channel whenever I need clarification on music theory questions

[@IWishUWereTacos]

Great lesson, I've been playing around with 7ths lately so this really helps

[@DavidBennettPiano]

Glad it helped!😊😊

[@JellyMonster1]

The outro music was quite nice, thanks.

[@allowah6]

You are brilliant, sir!

[@DavidBennettPiano]

Thank you!

[@eriksatieofficiel]

I'm in this video and I like it

[@DavidBennettPiano]

🥰

[@1rwjwith]

Brilliant video.👍

[@DavidBennettPiano]

Thank you 😃😃

[@michaeldematteis9944]

Love the 1 major 7 to 4maj 7.pretty basic,but i can play on that all day

[@8monday0110]

thanks to this video i finally understand what my trumpet teacher is talking about. thanks :-)

[@DavidBennettPiano]

Great!

[@puruyadav1252]

moreeeee EXPLAINED videos like this please!!

[@DavidBennettPiano]

Coming up!!

[@joshmays8935]

I’ve been trying to understand 7th chords for a while now, this video helped a lot

[@DavidBennettPiano]

Great!!

[@stefanodigarbo4735]

The diminished seventh is really so. Take C° for example: you might want to name notes as C, Eb, F#, A but that's not correct because you should stack minor thirds which those notes don't do. They should be C, Eb, Gb, Bbb. That's the seventh degree of the scale after getting diminished, which is one semitone lower than the already lowered 7th degree. Lovely video!

[@alfiewright1396]

You're the best music educator ive seen

[@DavidBennettPiano]

Thank you!

[@sophiejones3554]

Thank you! As a classically trained violinist I obviously know that all these chords exist... but no one bothers to tell you what it means to say a chord is diminished or dominant or suspended, and none of that is at all intuitive if you're playing chords as arpeggios. So imagine me trying to talk to bassists 😂.

[@Gynecologist]

Love that C min maj 7 sound in the Succession theme song!

[@TechPithan]

Thanks a lot! It helped me a lot.

[@DavidBennettPiano]

Glad it helped! 😀😀

[@selectarayne1936]

Loved this video but I would have loved to hear one or two examples of each chord from popular music. This video is very packed so totally understand why none were included.

[@wpochert]

I love 7b5 and 7#5 chords❤

[@NachtmahrNebenan]

Makes totally perfect sense! 🌺 But I really have a hard time translating to my lifelong used German version of naming chords and scalees 😅

[@SamChaneyProductions]

Great video! Bummed you didn't mention Major7 #5 because it's such a strange sounding chord and I'd love to know more about how it's often used

[@VirtualModular]

I quite like the major 7 with a flat five. Just tried #5 and that's pretty strange too. Nice one!

[@timjohnson2186]

Thnx dave

[@CJScrol]

Nice. Thanks.

[@DavidBennettPiano]

😊😊😊😊

[@RickDeevey]

Well covered . Thank you. How about a video covering augmented and flat 5 chords?

[@ayoutubechannul]

Video quality has clearly been leveled up!

[@kenkinnally6144]

Yes but his old setting had more charm. This is fine for a few videos but hopefully he at least sometimes goes back to a warmer background for future efforts. That's my one vote anyway!

[@davidsummerville351]

Your studio looks great. 😎🤓

[@deliusmyth5063]

The bit before the bridge in “Hey Jude” gives you that semitonal rundown to the dominant seventh.

[@JOXBEN]

Excellent as always. Clear as Holy Water ! Thank you very much !

[@DavidBennettPiano]

Thank you!!!

[@lov3alongmusic]

Thank you for being my music teacher

[@poldidak]

It’s helpful to understand the role of the dissonant tritone interval in both dominant 7 and diminished chords and its resolution as they move to a major tonic chord. Depending upon the key and the inversion (rearrangement of note order from low to high) of the dominant 7 chord, the M3rd and m7th that are separated by a tritone (3 whole steps) will contract (move each note a semitone closer) or expand (move each note a semitone further away) as the V7 moves to the I (tonic) chord, which resolves the tension of the tritone in the dominant V7 to the more consonant major 3rd (or minor 6th) interval between the root and 3rd of the major triad that often follows. Obviously the intervals are slightly different in the case of a dominant V7 moving to a minor I (i), where the minor 7 moves down a whole tone to the min 3rd of the following minor triad. But it is a similar instance of the tritone collapsing or widening into more settled intervals.

[@bebop502]

Well done young man , you’re quite articulate.

[@alguitarchristie]

Great video. I wish there was one like this for guitar! ( I can transpose all this i know. But I can't expect my students to get it on piano) Love your lessons

[@Greg-om2hb]

As a frustrated guitarist, I find music theory much easier to understand in the context of the piano’s linear keyboard, and then to translate the concepts to the guitar’s two-dimensional fretboard. I wish I had gained this insight (and had access to KZbin music education videos) 40 years ago. You can buy a serviceable keyboard quite cheaply these days, especially a second hand one.

[@panosmosproductions3230]

You mentioned in your video on diminished chords that a dominant 7 has a diminished triad in the voicing. The same can also be said for the minor major 7 chord having an augmented triad in its voicing.

[@eduardoariasvilla9213]

Thanks a lot!

[@DavidBennettPiano]

You're welcome!

[@educostanzo]

I usually go for the degree sign to indicate dim7 chords because they are symmetric, meaning that all notes are a 3rd apart and they are also circular, because if you add another 3rd you get to the octave. This makes sense also for the half-dim symbol, because it is literally almost a dim7, assymetrical and non circular. At least it works for me

[@slicksalmon6948]

Best music theory channel on KZbin. Or anywhere else.

[@DavidBennettPiano]

Thank you!