7th Chords! eg. D7
How do 7th chords affect the key? Say Im playing in C major, which of the notes can i make into a 7th chord? And does this change the Key? Do you get 7th chords in Major/Minor Keys?
# 1
If your in the key of C major, the G is the dominant chord. Sometimes it is the second chord that is dominant also. Depending on the harmonic arrangement of the chords.
Now not to get you confused but you should always think of writting a chord progression without thinking if terms of what key your in. The chord progression is basically the foundation of how that song will progress. Second guessing a chord because of what key your in or want to be in will limit the progression of the song. Then once you've written a chord progression for a song, then you can look back at what key(s) you wrote the song in. Then layer everything on top of that, like you melodies and harmonies. And if the chord progression is good, you can be d@mn well sure whatever you build on that will sound good too. Regardless if you stay in the same key or not.
Usually if you play a series of dominant chord, you don't always have to look at what key each are in to make sense of it. The series of dominants will usually be written in a single key, you'll just see a few accidentals. I prefer to look at the key of a song by it's root, rather than the chord structure above it. Take this chord progression of all dominants.
In the key of E major, play...
G#7 // C#7 // F#7 // B7
Sounds awesome doesn't it. Really bold and powerful, yet harmonic at the same time. Now if you look at all the notes in each chord, you will come accrosst quite a few accidentals. But the root note of each chord is still in E major scale, and the over all sound of chord progression is in E major. You see that cause the obvious choice to go to next is a E7 chord.
(Yes I know it's the circle of Fifths or Fourths, but it's where you end up that counts.)
The root will always keep the song is perspective of what key your in, regardless if a chord above it only exists in another key naturally. Take the G#7, which should be in the key of C# major. Hopefully that makes sense and you get it. Enough Rambling. Latr.
Now not to get you confused but you should always think of writting a chord progression without thinking if terms of what key your in. The chord progression is basically the foundation of how that song will progress. Second guessing a chord because of what key your in or want to be in will limit the progression of the song. Then once you've written a chord progression for a song, then you can look back at what key(s) you wrote the song in. Then layer everything on top of that, like you melodies and harmonies. And if the chord progression is good, you can be d@mn well sure whatever you build on that will sound good too. Regardless if you stay in the same key or not.
Usually if you play a series of dominant chord, you don't always have to look at what key each are in to make sense of it. The series of dominants will usually be written in a single key, you'll just see a few accidentals. I prefer to look at the key of a song by it's root, rather than the chord structure above it. Take this chord progression of all dominants.
In the key of E major, play...
G#7 // C#7 // F#7 // B7
Sounds awesome doesn't it. Really bold and powerful, yet harmonic at the same time. Now if you look at all the notes in each chord, you will come accrosst quite a few accidentals. But the root note of each chord is still in E major scale, and the over all sound of chord progression is in E major. You see that cause the obvious choice to go to next is a E7 chord.
(Yes I know it's the circle of Fifths or Fourths, but it's where you end up that counts.)
The root will always keep the song is perspective of what key your in, regardless if a chord above it only exists in another key naturally. Take the G#7, which should be in the key of C# major. Hopefully that makes sense and you get it. Enough Rambling. Latr.
"My whole life is a dark room...ONE BIG DARK ROOM" - a.f.i.
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