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Dominant seventh chords

A dominant seventh chord uses a major triad, plus the flatted seventh scale note: 1-3-5-b7. This chord occurs naturally on the fifth step of a major scale - G7 (G-B-D-F) contains only notes in the key of C.

Dominant sevenths are used so frequently in music that they're usually just called 'sevenths'. When you see the notation G7, it means G dominant seventh.

Dominant seventh chords have a sense of tension. That's normally released by moving to a major or minor chord a perfect fifth lower: G7-C or G7-Cm.

Dominant chord fingerings:

Not all four-note chords require playing four notes. The fifth is actually optional; you'll get the seventh chord sound from playing notes 1-3-b7, and there is one common form that doesn't have a fifth: