How To Play Seventh Chords with Just Two Notes

Seventh chords are chords that encompass a width of seven scale degrees.

In the major scale of C:

…the seventh scale tone is B:

Therefore, the seventh chord formed from this scale should encompass this width:

Formation of chords can be done by stacking thirds together.

If you’ve seen past lessons on forming chords, you’ll know my easy way to do this – called picking and skipping. For example, in C major…

…you can pick any note, C for example:

…skip D (the next scale tone) and pick E:

…skip F (the next scale tone) and pick G:

…skip A (the next scale tone) and pick B:

Alas, we’re on B. If we stack all the notes together:

…we’ll have a chord that fits into the seventh chord class we covered earlier:

This chord:

…is the major seventh because of the scale it’s formed from (major scale):

…and the width it encompasses:

…a seventh.

Seventh chords are typically four-note chords.

For beginners who are struggling with major, minor, augmented, and diminished triads and inversions, playing seventh chords usually seems challenging. This is because, unlike triads that have three notes, seventh chords have four.

In this post, I’ll be showing you, step-by-step, how to play only two notes on the right hand and still produce overall seventh chords.

Formation of Scale-Degree Seventh Chords

The major scale has seven degrees:

Chords can be built from every degree of the scale (1^st to 7^th) using the pick and skip technique or any other technique that you’re familiar with.

Here are seventh chords from the 1^st to the 7^th degree of the major scale:

Chord 1 – C major 7^th:

Chord 2 – D minor 7^th:

Chord 3 – E minor 7^th:

Chord 4 – F major 7^th:

Chord 5 – G dominant 7^th:

Chord 6 – A minor 7^th:

Chord 7 – B half-diminished 7^th:

There are basically four seventh chord qualities in the major scale:

• Major seventh
• Minor seventh
• Dominant seventh
• Half-diminished seventh

Even though the first three chords are used more often than the last one (half-diminished seventh), it is equally important for us to consider it as well.

Let’s look at each seventh chord quality…

Major Seventh

This is the seventh chord of the 1^st and 4^th degrees of the major scale.

There are so many approaches to the formation of the major seventh chord. One of the simplest is the addition of a major seventh interval to a major triad.

However, to do this, you must be familiar with major triads in all keys and the major seventh interval too.

Given the C major triad:

…addition of the major seventh interval:

…will produce the C major seventh chord:

This is a simple chord formation exercise that can give you the major seventh chord in all keys.

Let’s formularize it…

Minor Seventh

This is the seventh chord of the 2^nd, 3^rd, and 6^th degrees of the major scale.

Similar to the chord formation we just did, you can form minor seventh chords by the addition of a minor seventh interval to a minor triad.

Your ability to form minor seventh chords using this technique will require familiarity with minor triads in all keys, and the minor seventh interval in all keys.

Given the C minor triad:

…addition of the minor seventh interval:

…will produce the C minor seventh chord:

This is a practical chord formation exercise that can give you the minor seventh chord in all keys.

Let’s formularize it…

Dominant Seventh

The technical name of the fifth degree is the dominant.

Therefore, the term dominant seventh literally means the seventh chord of the 5^th degree of the major scale.

Using the same approach to chord formation, dominant seventh chords can be formed by the addition of a minor seventh interval to a major triad.

Please note…

We have mixed qualities here. Unlike what we covered earlier:

Major triad + major seventh interval

Minor triad + minor seventh interval

…it is mixed here:

Major triad + minor seventh interval

…and this is what makes the dominant seventh chord unique.

Given the C major triad:

…addition of the minor seventh interval:

…will produce the C dominant seventh chord:

This is a reliable approach to chord formation of the dominant seventh chord in all keys.

Let’s formularize it…

Half-Diminished Seventh

This is the seventh chord of the 7^th degree of the major scale (aka – “leading note chord”).

One simple approach to the formation of the half-diminished seventh chord is by adding a minor seventh interval to a diminished triad.

However, to do this, you must be familiar with diminished triads in all keys..

Given the C diminished triad:

…addition of the minor seventh interval:

…will produce C half-diminished seventh:

Approaching chord formation from this perspective can give you the half-diminished chord in all keys.

Let’s formularize it…

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Now that we’ve highlighted the seven scale-degree seventh chords, let’s look at how to play each seventh chord quality using two notes on the right hand.

“Who else wants to know more about skeleton voicing?”

In a previous post, we considered the “skeleton in the ‘chordboard‘” where I not only defined the skeleton but its place in chord formation and chord recognition.

In this post, we’re going deeper by exploring chord formation using skeletons. My desire is that someone out there will achieve more (by playing seventh chords) with lesser effort (just two notes).

Skeleton Voicings of Scale-Degree Seventh Chords

The two words that make up the term “skeleton voicings: are:

Skeleton: The skeleton of a chord consists of its third and seventh.

Voicing: This is the rearrangement of the notes of a chord.

Skeleton voicing is a rearrangement of the notes of a chord in such a way that its third and seventh are isolated from other chord tones.

A seventh chord has four tones:

• Root
• Third
• Fifth
• Seventh

…and our goal is to play the skeleton of seventh chords by isolating the third and the seventh chord tones, and ultimately playing seventh chords with just two notes.

Skeleton Voicing of Major Seventh Chords

In the C major seventh chord:

• C is the root
• E is the third
• G is the fifth
• B is the seventh

If we isolate the third and seventh:

…from other chord tones (root and fifth):

…we’ll have the skeleton voicing of C major seventh chord:

After that, you can choose to add the remaining chord tones (root and fifth) an octave lower:

…to produce:

Just for reference, here are the major seventh chords in all keys:

C major seventh:

Db major seventh:

D major seventh:

Eb major seventh:

E major seventh:

F major seventh:

Gb major seventh:

G major seventh:

Ab major seventh:

A major seventh:

Bb major seventh:

B major seventh:

Skeleton Voicing of Minor Seventh Chords

In the C minor seventh chord:

• C is the root
• Eb is the third
• G is the fifth
• Bb is the seventh

If we isolate the third and seventh:

…from other chord tones (root and fifth):

…we’ll have the skeleton voicing of C major seventh chord:

After that, you can choose to add the remaining chord tones (root and fifth) an octave lower:

…to produce:

Just for reference, here are the minor seventh chords in all keys:

C minor seventh:

C# minor seventh:

D minor seventh:

Eb minor seventh:

E minor seventh:

F minor seventh:

F# minor seventh:

G minor seventh:

G# minor seventh:

A minor seventh:

Bb minor seventh:

B minor seventh:

Skeleton Voicing of Dominant Seventh Chords

In the C dominant seventh chord:

• C is the root
• E is the third
• G is the fifth
• Bb is the seventh

If we isolate the third and seventh:

…from other chord tones (root and fifth):

…we’ll have the skeleton voicing of C dominant seventh chord:

After that, you can choose to add the remaining chord tones (root and fifth) an octave lower:

…to produce:

Just for reference, here are the dominant seventh chords in all keys:

C dominant seventh:

Db dominant seventh:

D dominant seventh:

Eb dominant seventh:

E dominant seventh:

F dominant seventh:

F# dominant seventh:

G dominant seventh:

Ab dominant seventh:

A dominant seventh:

Bb dominant seventh:

B dominant seventh:

Skeleton Voicing of Half-Diminished Seventh Chords

In the C half-diminished seventh chord:

• C is the root
• Eb is the third
• Gb is the fifth
• Bb is the seventh

If we isolate the third and seventh:

…from other chord tones (root and fifth):

…we’ll have the skeleton voicing of C half-diminished seventh chord:

After that, you can choose to add the remaining chord tones (root and fifth) an octave lower:

…to produce:

Just for reference, here are the half-diminished seventh chords in all keys:

C half diminished seventh:

C# half diminished seventh:

D half diminished seventh:

D# half diminished seventh:

E half diminished seventh:

F half diminished seventh:

F# half diminished seventh:

G half diminished seventh:

G# half diminished seventh:

A half diminished seventh:

Bb half diminished seventh:

B half diminished seventh:

Hope you enjoyed.

Until next time.

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Chuku Onyemachi

Head of Education at HearandPlay Music Group

Onyemachi "Onye" Chuku is a Nigerian musicologist, pianist, and author. Inspired by his role model (Jermaine Griggs) who has become his mentor, what he started off as teaching musicians in his Aba-Nigeria neighborhood in April 2005 eventually morphed into an international career that has helped hundreds of thousands of musicians all around the world. Onye lives in Dubai and is currently the Head of Education at HearandPlay Music Group and the music consultant of the Gospel Music Training Center, all in California, USA.

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