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How To Form 6th And 7th Piano Chords

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6th And 7th Piano Chords: Three Different Types Of Chords

In this video we cover how to form 6th and 7th piano chords.

Here is the video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iKXfob3J6E&feature=youtu.be

Good morning, this is Duane and we’ve been doing a series of reviews of major and minor chords and yesterday we did augmented and diminished chords. Today I’d like to take up 6th chords and 7th chords. That sounds like two types of chords, but it’s actually three types of chords, because a 6th is formed by adding the 6th note of the scale to the major chord. If the major chord say is C, and you add the 6th note of the scale, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, that’s called C 6th, okay? If you add the 6th to a minor chord, that’s called C minor 6th, okay? It’s still a 6th, whether it’s major or minor, in other words.

Then there’s a kind of 7th called a dominant 7th chord. That is not the 7th note of the scale, it’s not that one. It’s the flat 7th degree of the scale, okay? If you see a notation of C 7th, that’s what it means. You play it a C dominant 7th.

If the composer or the arranger wanted you to play that chord, he would say MAJ 7th chord. There’s a difference between the 7th and a major 7th. The 7th is technically a dominant 7th, but it’s in common usage is just called a 7th, and then the major 7th is the 7th degree of the scale.

Let’s go through the 12 major chords and add both a 6th and a dominant 7th and a 7th to see what they look like, okay? We’ve done C, now let’s go onto F. That’s F major, the 6th would be the whole step above the 5th, or it could count up the scale to 6. It’s easier to just think a whole step above the 5th. A 7th is a half step above that, so that’s F 7th. That’s F major 7th.

Here’s a G major triad, if I add a 6th I’d add the 6th note of the G scale. There’s the dominant 7th, which is a half step above that, and there’s the major 7th. The D triad, D major triad is like that. You’ve got to remember it’s black note in the middle, black key in the middle. A 6th is like that, a 7th is like that, and a major 7th is like that. E major, E major 6th is not there, is it? Why? Because I have to go up a whole step from the 5th to find the 6th. That’s E 6th. That’s E 7th, and that’s E major 7th. Here’s A major, A major 6th, A major 7th, I’m sorry. Not major 7th. A 7th, and A major 7th.

It gets kind of confusing because the chord is major whether you’re playing it dominant 7th or a major 7th. That can be a little confusing. That’s D flat major, where’s the 6th? 6th note of the D flat scale is there, but we can find it also by going up a whole step from the 5th, okay? That’s D flat 6th, D flat 7th, D flat major 7th. E flat, E flat 6th, E flat 7th, E flat major 7th. A flat, A flat 6th, A flat 7th, A flat major 7th. G flat, G flat 6th, G flat major 7th. B, B 6th, B 7th, and B major 7th. B flat, B flat 6th, B flat 7th, and B flat major 7th, okay?

So far in this series we’ve considered major and minor chords, and we’ve said that a major chord is made out of the root 3rd and 5th of the major scale, whatever that is. A minor chord is formed by lowering the 3rd from the major chord. A diminished chord is made by lowering the 3rd and the 5th from a major chord. An augmented chord is formed by raising the 5th a half a step. Now if I add the 6th note of the scale that’s a 6th, if I add another half step, that’s a 7th, major 7th, okay? If you’re not familiar with those, be sure and play through all of what I just did. Do it with your left hand as well, because you often play chords in the left hand more than you do in the right hand, although it’s good to play it in both hands, okay? You get familiar with them.

All right, that’s it for today. Tomorrow we’ll take up another couple kinds of chords and review those, so see you then. Bye bye for now.

***For lots more good stuff on piano playing come on over to my website at https://www.playpiano.com and sign up for our free piano tips – “Exciting Piano Chords & Sizzling Chord Progressions!”

Here’s a great little book on chords and chord progressions on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Piano-Chords-Chord-Progressions-Exciting-ebook/dp/B0076OUGDE/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1404158669&sr=1-1&keywords=piano+chords+duane+shinn

Here is the video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iKXfob3J6E&feature=youtu.be

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Posted in Chords & chord progressions Tagged , , , permalink

About Duane

Duane Shinn (that would be me) has good news for you if you want to play the piano. He (me) has little fat hands & stubby little fingers - not at all suited for playing the piano - more suited to making mud pies or some such. I am also fairly uncoordinated with just average musical ability - certainly not a great piano player. But I've learned a ton about music over the years and people tell me I'm pretty decent at explaining how music works & how to progress more rapidly on the piano. Over the years I have developed about 150 techniques for conquering the piano. Most professional pianists can do these techniques, but very few can explain them in a way people can understand. I specialize in making complex techniques simple. I invite you to watch a few of my free videos and see some of these for yourself before making any decision about taking any of my courses.

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