Chapter 11 - Seventh Chords

Seventh Chords in Root Position

A seventh chord is a sonority consisting of four notes stacked in thirds. You can
also think of it as a root position triad with an added third above the fifth. While
there are four different triad qualities, there are five different qualities of seventh
chords regularly found in tonal music. The qualities of the five seventh chords are
labeled according to two components: First, the quality of the basic triad and
second, the quality of the seventh above the root.
For example, if we add another third above a major triad we can create a seventh
chord. If the pitch that we add to this major triad is a major seventh above our
root pitch then we have created a major triad with a major seventh, or a majormajor seventh chord. The other common combinations that we find are a major
triad with a minor seventh (Major-minor Seventh Chord), a minor triad with a
minor seventh (minor-minor seventh chord), a diminished triad with a minor
seventh (diminished-minor seventh chord or half-diminished) and a
diminished triad with a diminished seventh (diminished-diminished seventh
chord or fully diminished).
Example 11-1 shows the five possible seventh chord qualities. You will note that
it might be possible to create other combinations, but they are not typically found
in the tonal music of the common practice era.
Ex. 11-1: The Five Types of Seventh Chords

There are four diatonic seventh chords found in major keys and they are labeled
by their triad quality as well as the quality of the seventh above the root of the

chord. For example, if we add a diatonic seventh to the tonic triad the result is a
major triad with a major seventh added above the root. We would label this
particular quality as major-major seventh or MM7.
Ex. 11-2: Diatonic Seventh Chords in Major

As you can see from Ex. 11-2, the four quality types for diatonic seventh chords
in major keys are major-major (MM), minor-minor (mm), major-minor (Mm), and
diminished-minor (dm).
In minor keys, we add a fifth diatonic seventh chord, the diminished-diminished
built on the leading-tone (raised scale degree seven).
Example 11-3: Diatonic Seventh Chords in Minor

The diminished-diminished is often called fully diminished and the diminishedminor is thus half diminished.

Seventh Chords in Inversion and their Figured Bass

Symbols
Like triads, seventh chords can also be inverted. Unlike triads, which only have
three pitches and thus are limited to three inversions (or root position plus two
inversions), seventh chords with four notes have four possible inversions.
Ex. 11-4a: Seventh Chord Inversions and their Figured Bass

The following chart shows the intervals above the bass in the various inversions
of triads and seventh chords. Please note precisely what each abbreviation
means in terms of diatonic intervals above a given bass pitch.

Ex. 11-4b: Triad and Seventh Chord Inversions

Triad

Root Position

1st Inversion

2nd Inversion

3rd Inversion

5
3

6
3

6
4

N/A

6
4

N/A

Abbreviated to:
Seventh Chord

7
5
3

6
5
3

6
4
3

6
4
2

Abbreviated to:

6
5

4
3

4
2