The Complete Idiot''s Guide to Music Theory

Major Seventh Chord Notation
Example
Major 7
C Major 7
Maj7
C Maj7
M7
CM7
∆
7
C
∆
7
Minor Sevenths
The minor seventh chord takes a standard minor chord and adds a minor seventh
on top of the existing three notes. This gives you a chord consisting of a root, minor
third, perfect fifth, and minor seventh. (This is sometimes notated 1-
3-5-
7.)

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Part 3:
Tunes
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For example, a C minor 7 chord includes the notes C, E
, G, and B
.
Here’s a quick look at how to build minor seventh chords on every note of the
scale:
Minor seventh chords.
There are several ways to indicate a minor seventh chord, as shown in the fol-
lowing table:
Notation for Minor Seventh Chords
Minor Seventh Chord Notation
Example
minor 7
C minor 7
min7
C min7
m7
Cm7
Other Sevenths
When I said there were three basic types of seventh chords, I left the door open
for other types of less frequently used seventh chords. Indeed, you can stick
either a minor or a major seventh on top of any type of triad—major, minor,
augmented, or diminished—to create different types of seventh chords.
For example, a major seventh stuck on top of a minor triad creates a “minor
major seventh” chord. (That is, the base chord is minor, but the seventh is
major.) This is notated 1-
3-5-7; a C minor Major 7 chord would include the
notes C, E
, G, and B (natural).
Other types of seventh chords.
A minor seventh on top of a diminished triad creates a diminished seventh
chord, like this: 1-
3-
5-
7. (This is the chord you get if you play a seventh
chord based on the seventh tone of a major key.) A minor seventh on top of an
augmented triad creates an augmented seventh chord, like this: 1-3-
5-
7. A
major seventh on top of an augmented triad creates a major seventh chord with
a raised fifth (
5), like this: 1-3-
5-7 … and so on.

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Chapter 9:
Chords
Other Extensions
While the seventh chord is almost as common as an unadorned triad, other
chord extensions are less widely used. That doesn’t mean you don’t need to
bother with them; when used properly, sixths and ninths and other extended
chords can add a lot to a piece of music.
Let’s look, then, at the other extensions you can use to spice up your basic chords.
Sixths
I said previously that all chords are based on notes a third apart from each other.
There’s an important exception to that rule: the sixth chord. With a sixth chord
(sometimes called an 
added sixth
chord), you start with a basic triad; then add an
extra note a second above the fifth—or a sixth above the root. You can have
major sixth and minor sixth chords, as well as sixths above diminished and aug-
mented triads, as shown in the following figure:
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Different types of sixth chords.
Later in this chapter you’ll learn about chord inversions, where the order of the
notes in a chord is changed. Interestingly, a sixth chord can be viewed as noth-
ing more than the first inversion of a seventh chord.
For example, the C Major 6 chord (C E G A) contains the same notes as the A
minor 7 chord (A C E G), just in a different order. For that reason, you sometimes
might see sixth chords notated as seventh chords with a separate note (the third)
in the bass. (C Major 6 could be notated like this: Am7/C.) This is a little
advanced—come back to this sidebar after you’ve read the section on inversions.
It’ll make sense then.
Note
Ninths
A ninth chord adds another third on top of the four notes in the seventh chord.
That makes for five individual notes; each a third apart. You can have ninth chords
based on both major and minor triads, with both major and minor sevenths.
Here’s just a smattering of the different types of ninth chords you can build:
When you get up to the
ninth chord, you assume
that the chord includes
both the underlying triad
and the seventh.
Note
Different types of ninth chords.

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