How much do you know about using “Dominant 7th” chords? These chords can be used in pretty surprising ways. This lesson breaks down a very cool process for applying Dominant 7th's that most guitar players are totally unaware of...
For a lot of guitar players the "Dominant 7th" chord is a "Blues" chord, or it's a "Jazz" style chord. They seem to behave as if they’re just simply replacing major chords in many situations. Other times, the Dominant 7th will show up in places where it does make make a whole lot of sense, (even if you have a basic understanding of chord harmony). When these chords are used in unique ways, they still seem to sound quite good. Why is that? In this lesson I’m going to help you better understand what exactly a “Dominant 7th” chord is, what it’s chord formula is, and what kind of relationship it has to the diatonic scale. WATCH THE VIDEO:
WHAT IS A DOMINANT 7TH CHORD? This chord is half major and half minor. It contains 4-tones, and if we analyzed how a Dominant 7th chord would be built from off of the root of “C” we would find that we’d get the Root Note, (C) a “Major 3rd” (E) a “Perfect 5th” (G) and a “Minor 7th.” Of (Bb). For that C7 chord type, again - the specific notes would wind up as “C, E, G and a, “Bb.”
CHORD PATTERNS ON THE NECK: Here’s what that chord would look like if we played it in the 3rd position…
Here’s what it would look like if we played it in the 8th position…
Finally, here’s what that would look like if we played it in the 5th position…
Now that you understand the chord tones, the chord degrees of each interval that creates the “Dom.7” chord, and now that you’re familiar with some chord shapes… we can start learning the different ways of how this chord is applied.
DIATONIC HARMONY APPLICATION: The first and most common application of this chord is generally using it as a “Diatonic” 5-chord that naturally exists within a major key. This means that if we have a chord progression in the key of “C Major” we would find a “Dominant 7th” chord naturally existing upon that keys 5th step of “G.” In this case we would refer to this idea as using the “Dominant 7th” as a “Primary” chord of the harmony. A typical Diatonic application in the key of “C” would work like this…
NON-DIATONIC HARMONY: Alright, so now here’s where things are going to get to be a little bit of a surprise for a lot of you... Remember, earlier on I had said that a “Dominant 7th” chord is half major and half minor… that’s because they have both a major 3rd and a minor 7th interval within the chord tone structure. This also means that aside from this chord functioning in its “Diatonic” “Primary” state, it can also function as a replacement for any other diatonic chord, (regardless of whether that chord might normally exist in harmony as a Major or a Minor within the key signature). As an example of how we might go ahead and apply this, let’s take that chord progression we just played and replace the “Em” chord (in the second measure), with an “E dom.7” chord so that you can hear how this secondary dominant concept would be applied in that progression…
SONG APPLICATIONS: If you want to go and check out some real applications of the use of Secondary Dominant chords, you won’t need to look very far. They show up in a ton of different songs. You can perhaps start by having a listen to the song called, “I Can’t Tell You Why” written by the Eagles. The Verse chord changes:
That piece is in the key of “D Major,” and in that songs 1st Verse we find simple chord changes that are fairly limited to using the two chords of; “D maj.” and, “G maj.” However, at the end of the verse, we find a chord from the key operating as a Secondary Dominant… In that song the diatonic 3-chord of “F# Minor” is replaced at the end of the Verse with an “F#7”. And, later on in that song, the Bridge has the same situation occur once again in the same way. Now, something else interesting is that the “F# dom.7th” chord is actually preceded by an “F#7sus4” so keep an idea like that in mind if you’re perhaps doing some composing using this theory on your own as well.
Another song you might want to look into is a song called, “Spooky” by the Atlanta Rhythm Section. That song’s in the key of “E Minor” and it uses a simple two chord riff that replaces the Diatonic IV-chord of “A Minor” with a Secondary Dominant application of “A dom.” Also, in that piece, the dominant chord is performed with an extension of a 13th. The riff goes from an “Em7” chord and moves into an “A dom. 13th.”
CONCLUSION: There are quite a lot of different ways that these secondary dominant chords can be applied, but one thing is for certain. Any step of the scale for any key that you might be; writing, arranging or transcribing within (any step) can be performed as a Dominant 7th chord (it does not have to always be played as the correct diatonic major or minor). At any time in any song, if it sounds good, you can replace a diatonic major or minor chord with a “Dominant 7th chord.” And, it can be played along with any suspension or extension that you would like!
VISIT THE WEB-SITE: As always, thanks for joining me, if you liked this video, please give it a thumbs up and subscribe for more on YouTube, (remember to hit that bell when you subscribe so that you’ll never miss any of my lesson uploads to YouTube). Also, I'd like to let you know about the guitar courses over on my website at CreativeGuitarStudio.com. I’ve got step-by-step; Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced courses that work alongside of in-depth elective programs to form the best guitar course available. The courses work to help you learn to identify what's required to get you up to that next level of guitar playing, in a very organized step-by-step way, that makes sense. So, I look forward to helping you further at CreativeGuitarStudio.com Until next time, take care and we'll catch up again on the next lesson. Bye for now!
You've heard of "Painting by Numbers," well now there's "Soloing by Numbers." Learn to play great solos by understanding how to phrase into intervals of chords, (in other words, phrasing into chord tones).
When you get good at this method, it can become an incredibly powerful way to get your solos to really pop out.
"Phrasing by Numbers" (phrasing into the chord tones), takes a special kind of practice to be able to get your mind zeroed in on. The practice routine involves using specific intervals so that the choice of notes (you play into), will eventually become more natural and automatic for you. After practicing using this method for a while, your hands will just naturally, "go to where you need them to go," and you won’t need to consciously think about it. WATCH THE VIDEO:
STEP 1). ESTABLISH A JAM-PROGRESSION Let’s get things started by laying the foundation for our exercise… Here’s a two chord jam in the key of “E Minor.” This progression applies the chords of, “Em7” and “Bm7.” The Jam:
STEP 2). PLAN THE NUMBERS In our two chord jam (from the key of “E Minor”) we’re going to begin our practice routine by phrasing a melodic statement into different resolution tones from the “Bm7” chord. This means that each phrase we complete will point into a different chord tone of “Bm7.” The end goal of this style of practice is for your ear to eventually get your hands to start recognizing two things. The first is the location on the neck for each chord tone, and secondly, what it sounds like to land on the different intervals of the chord being targeted. CHORD TONE TARGETING: The “Bm7” chord has four chord tones, they are the; Root of “B,” the Minor 3rd of “D,” the Perfect 5th of, “F#,” and the Minor 7th of, “A.” NOTE: Keep in mind that when using this practice approach you’re going to need to do a note by note breakdown of each chord that you use in your routine.
PRACTICE TIP: You’ll always need to be aware of the chord tones which will get used as the target tones. However, the good news is that after a while, your ear will surprisingly start to take over and target all of those chord tones unconsciously. I know this sounds unreal, but it actually does happen this way.
STEP 3). START SOLOING BY NUMBERS Let’s have some fun and start this exercise… Study the four-bar melodic phrase shown below. It covers the “Em7” chord with a repetitive committed musical line (just for that chord). The study repeats the same phrase on each pass of that ‘Em7.’ But, for the resolution into the “Bm7” chord the study is going to target into different chord tones on each repeat. Those will be, (just to re-cap), the; Root (B), the Minor 3rd (D), the Perfect 5th (F#), and the Minor 7th (A)… Now, start jamming out and play this exercise.
CONCLUSION: Well, that’s the “Phrasing by Numbers,” exercise and when you start doing it as a part of your soloing practice, you’ll begin noticing results in around 2-3 weeks’ time. It really doesn’t take all that long. But, what’s really cool (about studying a chord tone exercise like this one), is that you’ll not only get a lot better at your ability to play really well connected solos, but your music theory will also get a lot better too.
Along the way you’ll be analyzing chord tones so much more in depth to be able to target the different intervals of every new chord you try.
VISIT THE WEB-SITE: Before we wrap-up I wanted to let you know about the guitar courses that I have over on my website at CreativeGuitarStudio.com. I’ve got step-by-step; Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced courses that work alongside of in-depth elective programs to form the best guitar courses available. My courses work fantastic to help you learn to identify what's required to get you up to that next level of guitar playing, in a very organized step-by-step way, that totally makes sense. I look forward to helping you further at my website; CreativeGuitarStudio.com
Thanks for joining me, if you liked this lesson, please give it a thumbs up and subscribe for more on YouTube, (and remember to hit that bell when you subscribe so that you’ll never miss any of my lesson uploads to YouTube)… Until next time, take care and we'll catch up again on the next lesson. Bye for now!
When it comes to playing guitar there's not much that beats the fun of jamming on new chord progressions. In fact, it's probably one of the most fun things that we do. In this lesson I'll show you a trick that will make this process even more fun the next time you sit down to strum a few chords...
Whether you’re writing loops at home for the practice of solos, or if you're writing a new song, chances are that you'll run into road blocks when it comes to selecting extra chords. Hitting road-blocks with chord choices is a common problem that a lot of guitarists will face when writing original chord changes. It’s usually fairly easy to find two chords that fit well with each other, but when it comes to adding extra chords after that - things can become a challenge. In this lesson, I’m going to run through a quick and easy method for bringing in additional chords to your practice progressions (NOTE: this will be great if you’re an aspiring songwriter). WATCH THE VIDEO:
OPTIONS FOR THE ROOT CHORD: Let’s start by establishing a basic two chord jam that covers four measures all set-up within the key of “C Major.” We’ll use the 1st and 4th chords of the key, “C Major” and, “F Major.”
Alright, next we’ll “add a chord” into the mix. In the key of “C” our options for the root chord of “C” major would be either the key’s 3rd or 6th chord, giving us options of “Em” or “Am.” So, let’s start by adding in an, “Em” chord.
In the above progression. the "Em" is a pretty decent sound to add in as a chord option for this "C Major" progression. But, we still have another choice to test out. Next we'll try out the 6th chord degree of “Am” and find out what that chord sounds like in our progression.
If we stop for a moment and take inventory of what’s going on so far, we’ve determined that we have a couple of chord choices that can be added in around any key’s root chord. We've learned that these chord choices will end up being the 3rd along with the 6th. Both of these chord options sound good and both can act as solid choices alongside of our root chord.
OPTIONS FOR THE 4th CHORD: Next, let’s try out another option for our, “F” Major,” chord.
The above progression focuses on our 4th chord in the key of “C Major” (which is an “F Major”). The 4th degree chord types (applied as major chords in major keys) can have an optional chord built off of the second chord of the key. For the key of “C Major” (the key signature that we’re using in this example), that 2nd step option would give us the chord of “Dm.” This means that you can add that second degree chord (in this case “Dm”), along with the “F” in the chord progression.
CONCLUSION: Now that we’ve had a chance to practice adding in chords (to help with enhancing progressions and help make even the most basic sounding two-chord jam a little more jazzed up), I want to wrap things up here with a quick summary to review exactly what we’ve done by way of adding extra chord choices into the progression we’ve worked on today. It's important to understand the process of what we've done so that you will be able to go forward with this system and apply this method to enhance any chord progression that you’re jamming on.
OPTIONS: The process we’ve covered here offers options of using either the 6th or the 3rd chords of the key when there’s an interest in enhancing the root chord of a progression.
And, if we’re looking to enhance the sound off of the keys 4th chord, we can use the keys second chord as an option.
Plus, these options all work in reverse as well. So, the application is bilateral in how it can be applied musically - making it a really cool way to compose since it offers immediate options when writing your chord progressions!
VISIT THE WEB-SITE: Learn more great ways to enhance both your musical awareness and your guitar skills by checking into the guitar courses that are on my website at CreativeGuitarStudio.com I’ve got step-by-step; Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced courses that work alongside of in-depth elective programs to form the best guitar course available. The courses work to help you learn to identify what's required to get you up to that next level of guitar playing, in a very organized step-by-step way, that makes sense. I look forward to helping you further at CreativeGuitarStudio.com Thanks for joining me...If you enjoyed this lesson, please give it a thumb’s up and subscribe for more on YouTube. Until next time, take care and we'll catch up again on the next lesson.
NEW The 15th lesson of "Rhythm Guitar" shifts to a new practice routine that has the sessions start including composition. Each of the remaining Rhythm Guitar episodes will not only include stylistic examples, but they will also include a section for students to create their own original rhythm jams. A bonus for BASIC and PREMIUM web-site members are the (9) MP3 play-along tracks that will help with learning each rhythm example.
Paid Web-site members (BASIC and PREMIUM), can watch the associated video lessons and download the detailed PDF handout, along with the MP3 clap /strum play-along tracks...
Join the member's areato download the PDF handout and MP3's. Study all of the examples with full access to both video lessons. Be sure to spend some additional time on learning the "Rhythm Jam Challenge" piece that I performed at the start of the lesson in the "Part One" video... EPISODE 15: The lesson plan for episode 15 is dedicated to performing rock. Four examples in the lesson will focus on covering; even 8th-note rock rhythm, back-beat 8th-note syncopated rock, the 16th-note gallop, and British blues-rock (triplet feel).
PART ONE (free on YouTube):Example one is based upon the common "even 8th-note" rock rhythm. This groove is based upon performing a steady and consistent 8th-note groove. Often times chord shots are intermixed or layered over the groove. This gives the rhythm an effect of a loss to the down-beat. PART TWO:In example two, we're going to run through another 8th-note feel. However, this time we'll develop an 8th-note syncopated idea with an emphasis upon the back-beat.
PART THREE:
In example three, I've included the groove known of in heavy metal and hard rock styles as the, "Gallop." This rhythm applies a mix of both 8th-notes and 16th-notes that groove steadily and consistently to create a heavy, "chugging" feel.
The pattern used in example three is a recurring mix of an 8th-note and two 16th-notes. This establishes a picking pattern for the strum-hand that remains steady throughout.
PART FOUR:Example four focuses on the rhythmic feel found throughout many of the songs played by British Blues-Rock bands. This rhythmic style includes the style of music played by bands such as; Ten Years After, Jethro Tull, and Cream.
The rhythm pattern shown in example 04 demonstrates a style of British Blues-Rock groove that applies consistent 8th-note triplets.
