Jazz Chords - 7th

So you already know the basic chords but do not know how to play around with some jazz melodies? That is because you do not know everything yet!

As a very particular genre, jazz requires particular chords. I will show you some of them, for you to get easily started. For you to practice and memorize them better, I will separate them in categories. They look kinda weird, but you will see that is not that difficult and they are beautiful.

Good luck and never give up!

_____________________
| Major 7th chords |
_____________________

C7

e ||-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
G ||-----|-----|--3--|-----|-----|
B ||-----|--2--|-----|-----|-----|
D ||-----|-----|--4--|-----|-----|
A ||--1--|-----|-----|-----|-----|
E ||-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|

D7

||-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
||-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
||-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
||-----|--2--|-----|-----|-----|
||--1--|-----|-----|-----|-----|
||-----|--3--|-----|-----|-----|

E7

||-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
||-----|--2--|-----|-----|-----|
||-----|--3--|-----|-----|-----|
||--1--|-----|-----|-----|-----|
||-----|-----|--4--|-----|-----|
||-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|

F7

||--|--|-----|-----|-----|-----|
||--|--|-----|--3--|-----|-----|
||--|--|-----|-----|-----|-----|
||--|--|--2--|-----|-----|-----|
||--|--|-----|-----|-----|-----|
||--|--|-----|-----|-----|-----|

G7

||-----|-----|--|--|-----|-----|
||-----|-----|--|--|-----|--3--|
||-----|-----|--|--|-----|-----|
||-----|-----|--|--|--2--|-----|
||-----|-----|--|--|-----|-----|
||-----|-----|--|--|-----|-----|

A7

||-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
||-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
||-----|--1--|-----|-----|-----|
||-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
||-----|--2--|-----|-----|-----|
||-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|

B7

||-----|--|--|-----|-----|-----|
||-----|--|--|-----|-----|-----|
||-----|--|--|-----|--3--|-----|
||-----|--|--|-----|-----|-----|
||-----|--|--|-----|--4--|-----|
||-----|--|--|-----|-----|-----|

____________________
| Minor 7th chords |
____________________

Cm7

||-----|--|--|-----|-----|-----|
||-----|--|--|-----|-----|-----|
||-----|--|--|-----|--3--|-----|
||-----|--|--|-----|-----|-----|
||-----|--|--|--2--|-----|-----|
||-----|--|--|-----|-----|-----|

Dm7

||-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
||-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
||-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
||-----|--2--|-----|-----|-----|
||--|--|-----|-----|-----|-----|
||--|--|-----|-----|-----|-----|

Em7

||-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
||-----|--2--|-----|-----|-----|
||-----|--3--|-----|-----|-----|
||-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
||-----|-----|--4--|-----|-----|
||-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|

Fm7

||--|--|-----|-----|-----|-----|
||--|--|-----|--3--|-----|-----|
||--|--|-----|-----|-----|-----|
||--|--|-----|-----|-----|-----|
||--|--|-----|-----|-----|-----|
||--|--|-----|-----|-----|-----|

Gm7

||-----|-----|--|--|-----|-----|
||-----|-----|--|--|-----|--3--|
||-----|-----|--|--|-----|-----|
||-----|-----|--|--|-----|-----|
||-----|-----|--|--|-----|-----|
||-----|-----|--|--|-----|-----|

Am7

||-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
||-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
||-----|--2--|-----|-----|-----|
||-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
||--1--|-----|-----|-----|-----|
||-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|

Bm7

||-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
||-----|--|--|-----|-----|-----|
||-----|--|--|-----|--3--|-----|
||-----|--|--|-----|-----|-----|
||-----|--|--|--2--|-----|-----|
||-----|--|--|-----|-----|-----|

Now you can play with this chords or even create some songs! Do not forget that jazz is not only about 7th chords. Jazz is an indeterminate thing and there is a lot to learn. I am willing to publish the next part of this guide, which will be about 9th or 6th chords. They are also very used on jazz.

Comments

[itsmeadows]

I'm just going to say it, all the chords are upside-down.

[Sakke]

Wow.. wait? This guy needs an edit button, just as well as I do. I didn't think of it as I was on mobile earlier... And his strings all are wrong..

[Spud Spudly]

Whew, I thought I had suddenly become dyslexic.

[jsync]

i am dyslexic and it looked normal till this guy said it was upside down. uggh

[iommi600]

Dude, no disrespect to your dyslexia at all, but this made my sides hurt.

[EoinOwnage]

good, i was confused there...

[Max InMe]

although they are upside down, Gmaj7 and Fmaj7 still sound good

[Sakke]

I guess this lesson shows the 7th chords clearly, but you could give some more input. For example, include what is the difference between C7 and Cm7. And also include something else than just tabs.

[millarso]

This is a good format to me, but like itsmeadows says, the chords are upside down of the expected. It's not a huge deal, but it seems more natural the other way. Also, do you play all strings on all of these chords? Usually you have an o by the strings to be strummed. Otherwise, I would enjoy the simplicity and directness of this lesson. I find most jazz lessons overly contrived for the average player.

[DexterF]

save to text. use tac >newfilename.
(requires real operating system)
(or cygwin)

[fatgleeson]

'(requires real operating system)'

tough guy linux user right there, arent you a special snowflake

[DexterF]

Damn right.

[FreekBos]

As said above, I love the simplicity of the post. Most jazz posts completely lose me on schema's and why and how chords are constructed. They totally lose the idea of simple trying combination of chords which to YOU sound good.

Make music, don't calculate music.

Anyway, I would love a repost of this overview with the tabs turned around the way they should be. And I'm looking forward to the 6th and 9th chords.

[Iommianity]

They totally lose the idea of simple trying combination of chords which to YOU sound good.

Make music, don't calculate music.

That's a silly notion. A knowledge of theory doesn't prevent you from making music. It simply gives you a set of tools to understand why certain chord progressions sound good. It bolsters your writing, it doesn't hinder it. That's just a justification of ignorance (don't take that as an insult, because I don't mean it as one). Music theory isn't a set of rules to hold you back or make you play a certain way, or else all jazz and classical music would sound diatonically safe (even though some of it does, to a fault).

[theknuckster]

those are not major 7th chords, they are major dominant 7th chords. and before anybody accuses me of being picky or something, no, there is a big difference.

[millarso]

Don't worry. Picky is good in this case. I think the general consensus here is on your side.

[ChasinTheTrane]

The heading on the first section says maj7 chords but only the first chord is correct the rest are dominant 7ths and you need to include more practical fingerings that we use in Jazz like 3 note shell voicings and drop voicings. I dont know any jazzers that use open voicings, you get in the way of the bass

[ChasinTheTrane]

Sry didnt see the post prior to mine

[engineno9]

really? because when I see a title that says "Major 7th Chords," and then a "C7" with a diagram for a BbM7 chord, I get all sorts of confused. I didn't even bother to read beyond that. Even given that the diagrams are upside down, "C7" isn't a major 7th chord. If I could have voted less than 1, I would have.

[ChasinTheTrane]

I meant that the first chord was a maj7 chord

[V8v8v8]

Not useful, misleading article. Why?

1. Because there is a difference between Major7(th) chords and 7th (aka Dominant 7th) chords.
2. The C7 example is displayed one way (correctly for a CMaj 7, but not a C7), then the D7 is displayed upaside down and is a dominant 7th chord and not a DMaj7 - whioch one would expect it to be.
3. No context. Information is best understood in context - E.g Dominant7 chords are typically used in blues - E.g. E7, A7, B7 in a 12bar progression.
4. No practical examples. So try this : http://chordfind.com/ to find the following chords and play : CMaj7, AMin7, Dmin7, G7. Then substitute Dominant (or 7)m Minor and Major chords to get your ears used to differences.

Aplogies, but this article raised my hackles slightly.

[punkrock4all]

So it's been said, but your tab is all upside-down, and those are dominant 7th chords, not major 7ths.

[eetfuk58]

I am curious as to if you even play guitar....?

this article is total crap.

[Tommat]

Well that was painful to read...

[iommi600]

I used to wonder if Ultimate Guitar even keeps a quality control with those articles. Now I'm pretty sure they don't.

[Ibeanez]

There are no jazz chords. Extended chords are general music knowledge.

[Hydra150]

Yeah, the 7th chords are incorrectly named and the chord diagrams are shown in an unusual way.

Really these things should have been spotted before this was published, and it should probably have included maj7th chords aswell.
There really is too little quality control on these theory/technique articles - there are knowledgeable regulars on the (GT and MT) forums who I'm sure would be more than happy to look over lessons for errors.

Also, the author is a chick, stop saying 'guys', guys.

[Tommat]

That's the problem - one or two of the chords labelled as dominant 7ths were tabbed out as maj7ths, so I could see this being slightly detrimental to some unsuspecting beginner.

[British_Steal]

This article is crap. Remove it UG.

[vikkyvik]

Lesson is kind of amusing, after I saw this blog post by the author:

http://profile.ultimate-guitar.com/mizzt...

[Hydra150]

This is the problem, and I don't mean to criticize the author because she went to the effort of writing an article when most users wont even try, but there are users on this site who are far more knowledgeable and may be professional teachers themselves so they have more knowledge to impart and more skill in communicating this stuff - but they don't, so UG needs to accept any contributions it gets.
So, either the experienced teachers/pro players who use this site and the forums need to contribute more or UG needs to get stricter with it's quality control so that when articles like these are posted they are examined by an expert who should even give the author tips for revising the content.
I do appreciate the effort, though.

[vikkyvik]

yeah, truthfully, i don't really mean to criticize the author either. i just think the article is a bit misguided, and more importantly, could confuse people - especially beginners. and that's a shame.

[fattyDQ]

Wow, hilarious, and shameful

[fattyDQ]

This whole thing is laughably wrong

[olfart]

living in a perfect world! At least some members try, help them if they go wrong and give encouragement where needed.

[Smokey McPot]

someone edit this please... i guess i can read them because i know them... but for someone on a beginner level it probably isn't so easy... :/

[RichieJovie]

These chords aren't "Jazz" chords they are just chords. They are used throughout all genres of music and labelling them as a particular genre suggests limited usage.

[gynther flynt]

Horrible horrible lesson, and just makes people confused. To not even understand the difference of dominant seventh vs. major seventh... How do we remove this lesson?

[xonty]

Have you ever played guitar man??

[OtherGuy]

Major 7th chords eh?

[Francisco.ojeda]

The chord C7 is a Cmaj7, also the fingering for the chords is terrible in most of the cases

[Ardolino_Cool]

Shouldn't this be described as Extended chords. I think it is commonly poor knowledge for guitarists to assume 7th chords (or other extended triads) are not associated to popular forms, or only Jazz. I remember teaching a student some theory, and they didn't know that 7ths (or other extended triads) were used in art music (classical, romantic, baroque etc) and it just shows that some guitarists need to realise that chords and harmony or the creation of bigger extensions is not just for one instrument.

[MetalSaint]

Dude! Please even a boy who had a guitar for week will know that this is a simple chords not jazz Crappppp

[sagifern]

nobody edits the content in this website before it goes online ?
thousands of begginers will live by a mistake now thinking these chords are jazzy or written correctly..
so many mistakes.

[Woffelz]

Someone from UG is too busy eating donuts...

[powerfist]

"Jazz is an intermediate thing"

the balls it is. Jazz is probably the most complex genre of music around!

[Guns&Guitars]

shit afghani!

[vorpal_sledge]

Did the author to this article go through and downvote everyone?

[Hydra150]

Hah, somebody did, and indiscriminately too. I've done what I can to right that wrong.

[RabidPikachu]

since when are seventh chords jazz chords? Thats like straight blues. Major and minor 7ths yes... but a C7 doesnt sound the slightest bit jazzy.

[Hydra150]

You clearly know nothing about nothing so do us all more informed people a favor and sit in the back of the classroom with your mouth shut where you belong.

[AmritaRock]

this article is terrible for everyone who is actually trying to learn something.

[Hydra150]

Also, why has this article about chords used in jazz been put into the 'Guitar Techniques' category and not the 'Chords' or even 'Music Styles' categories?

[LM-Dad]

The original poster plays a left hand guitar.