The power – and versatility – of the dominant 7th chord
By Jon Liebman
January 20, 2025
You’re playing your bass, you’re holding down the groove and, for the most part, things are going okay.
Sometimes, though, it feels like your lines need a little something else to keep the pulse flowing, to make the music more interesting.
Enter the Dominant 7th chord.
As we talked about is some of the earlier lessons, a dominant 7th chord is simply a major triad with a minor 7th.
For example, a G dominant 7th chord, known simply as G7, has these notes: G-B-D-F.
A C7 chord: C-E-G-Bb.
A D7 chord: D-F#-A-C
And guess what? Darn near every song you’ve ever heard has at least one dominant 7th chord!
In this lesson, you’ll learn different ways to give your bass lines that extra “something” by strategically inserting the notes of the dominant 7th chord into the song.
Not only can this technique enhance your bass playing, but it’s fun too.
Watch the video, see what I do, then give it a try.
Let’s play bass!
Jon
sometimes I use the try tone where the root third and D7th with no 5th kind of a cool chord and sort of a triangle shape
That works just fine. The 5th, in this context, is perhaps the least important note in the chord. Thanks, John!
Jon, would it be possible to add a pdf to the lessons?
Good suggestion, Joe. I’ve done it several times when it was practical — but most of the time it’s not! 🙂 Is there something specific you’re looking to learn on the bass? Let me know and I’ll do my best to help you. Thanks for asking!