Diatonic Seventh Chords Means “From the Key.” So a Diatonic Chord Is One What Are They? That Only Uses Notes in Diatonic Seventh Chords Are the the Key Signature
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music theory for musicians and normal people by toby w. rush Remember, diatonic Diatonic Seventh Chords means “from the key.” so a diatonic chord is one What are they? that only uses notes in diatonic seventh chords are the the key signature. seventh chords you can create using No accidentals! only the notes in a particular key. Here they are there are eight possible types of in major and w seventh chords in tertial harmony, minor. w w w w w but the composers of the common & w w w w w w w practice period only used five: w7 w7 w 7 w 7 7 7 7 remember: C: wI wii iii IV V vi vii° we only major 7th raise the the above root leading-tone major w w major triad seventh w over w w w dominant- w w w w w w function & w w w w #w w #w w7 w 7 w 7 w7 7 7 7 minor 7th harmony! a: wi wii° III iv V VI vii° the bw above root w major triad in harmonic progressions, diatonic sevenths can major-minorseventh w be used anywhere you can use a diatonic triad with the same root. minor 7th the above root ˙ ˙ minor bw ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ seventh b w minor triad ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ w & ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ V I IV vii° iii7 pending pat. vi7 ii7 V7 I7 the minor 7th the add-a-seventh-inator b bw above root half-diminishedseventh b w diminished triad 2 in fact, these chords can be approached and resolved the diminished 7th 3 using any of the same three above root root movements b ∫w seventh b w diminished triad 5 as triads use. fully diminished w we use “07” for With the diatonic seventh chords, we add a half-diminished sevenths and “07” for fourth root movement: 1 the common root. fully diminished sevenths. However, this root movement can only be used to increase tension, so going from a seventh chord to a triad is avoided. seventh chords have four notes, so doubling in four-part 7 7 harmony is not an issue... but if you need to use irregular V V V V doubling, double the root and omit the fifth. when using these chords in four-part writing — in The seventh of the chord fact, when you use any seventh chord in four-part is always resolved down writing, you must always, always remember to... by step. always! the seventh of the chord no, i’m serious. don’t ever is most often approached respect the seventh! resolve the seventh of a by the common tone. seventh chord any other way. however, it is okay to approach the seventh doing so will cause you from below by a step certain death! or a leap, or from above by a step. You must never approach the seventh by a leap from above! www w licensed under a creative commons wBY-NC-ND license - visit tobyrush.com for more.