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Blues Lesson 4
7th CHORDS BLUES

  1. 7th Chords
  2. Take Seven
  3. Keyboard 7th Chord Voicings
  4. Skeleton Chords
  5. Improvisation with 7th chord tones
  6. Quiz - Quiz Answers
  7. Exercises
  8. Lesson Material

    Library - Keyboard Comping


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BL 4.1 - 7th Chords

The major triad chords are generally used for Boogie Woogie style and Rock and Roll versions of the Blues.

In Jazz Blues the dominant 7th chords are more commonly used.

The standard dominant 7th chord contains four notes.
They are the 1st (tonic), 3rd, 5th and flattened 7th note of the major scale.
For the Blues in C :

Audio 4.1
lesson05/bl0501.gif


The I7, IV7 and V7 chords for the Blues in C are :

Audio 4.2
lesson05/bl0502.gif


The I7, IV7 and V7 chords for the Blues in G are :

Audio 4.3
lesson05/bl0503.gif

The chord progression is the same as for the basic triad blues format.
Simply replace the triads (3 note chords) by 7th chords.

Here is the basic chord progression for the Blues in C.

Audio 4.4
lesson05/bl0504.gif



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BL 4.2 - Take Seven

Take Seven is a basic blues in C. The entire melody consists of 7th chord tones only.

Use this song to get familiar with the 7th chords of the Blues.

Melody
lesson05/bl0507.gif

Play-along midi files for the Blues in C are :

  • C- instruments use bblc.mid (or any other track in C)
  • Bb- instruments use bblbb.mid (or any other track in Bb)
  • Eb- instruments use bbleb.mid (or any other track in Eb)


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BL 4.3 - Keyboard Chord Voicings

When playing chords in the left hand do not play all chords in root position.
For smooth transitions from chord to chord alternate chord voicings.
Here are the four closed position chord voicings for C7, F7 and G7 :

Chord Voicings C7 F7 G7
Root position = 1 3 5 b7 C E G Bb F A C Eb G B D F
1st inversion = 3 5 b7 1 E G Bb C A C Eb F B D F G
2nd inversion = 5 b7 1 3 G Bb C E C Eb F A D F G B
3rd inversion = b7 1 3 5 Bb C E G Eb F A C F G B D
For smooth transitions from one chord to the next, alternate :
  • Root position for I7 with 2nd inversions for IV7 and V7 (or vice versa), or

  • 1st inversion for I7 with 3rd inversions for IV7 and V7 (or vice versa).

For the Blues in C for example you can combine these voicings :

Audio 4.5
lesson05/bl0505.gif
or these :

Audio 4.6
lesson05/bl0506.gif


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BL 4.4 - Skeleton Chords

Leaving out one or two of the four chord tones produces a lighter chord voicing ('skeleton chord').
This is in particular useful for electronic keyboards, which do not do justice to the complete four note chords.

You can omit the root or the 5th of the chord, these notes are played by the bass anyway.

Audio 4.7
lesson05/bl0508.gif
Avoid leaving out the chord's 3rd or 7th, for these are the two essential chord tones that determine the chord quality, differentiating between the major, dominant and minor sounds.
  • M3 + M7 produce the major 7th chord quality

  • M3 + m7 produce the dominant 7th chord quality

  • m3 + m7 produce the minor 7th chord quality

For the Blues in C for example you can use these 3-note chord voicings.

Audio 4.8
lesson05/bl0509.gif

Or use the purest skeletone chords. These sound really good.

Audio 4.9
lesson05/bl0510.gif

See also Jazz Chord voicings : BL Comp 5b.


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BL 4.5 - Improvisation

1.
Play Take Seven until you can play the melody from memory.

2.
Play 7th chord arpeggios ('broken chords') over the basic blues in C as shown below.

Audio 4.10
lesson05/bl0511.gif

3.
Improvise with 7th chord-tones only over the basic blues in C using rhythm patterns : 1-8 or 9-16.

C- instruments use :
C7 chord tones over the C7 chord
F7 chord tones over the F7 chord
G7 chord tones over the G7 chord
Bb- instruments use :
D7 chord tones over the D7 chord
G7 chord tones over the G7 chord
A7 chord tones over the A7 chord
Eb- instruments use :
A7 over the A7 chord
D7 chord tones over the D7 chord
E7 chord tones over the E7 chord
4.
Repeat the above routines (1, 2 and 3) for the basic blues in F and in G.



5.
Swapping 2s and 4s on Take Seven (in F) : complete improvisation

  • Take 1 (12 choruses) - : I play the first 2 bars of each 4-bar phrase, you play the following 2 bars.

  • Take 2 (12 choruses) - : You play the first 2 bars of each 4-bar phrase, I play the following 2 bars.

  • Take 3 (12 choruses) - : I play the first 4 bars, you play the following 4 bars.

  • Take 4 (12 choruses) - : You play the first 4 bars, I play the following 4 bars.


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BL 4.6 - Quiz

A.
Unscramble the following 7th chords and place the notes in root position order.

  1. A F Eb C
  2. F D Bb Ab
  3. F# C D A
  4. E A G C#
  5. C Bb G E
  6. Db G Eb Bb
  7. G F D B
  8. F# D# B A
B.
Add the missing chord tone to the following dominant 7th chords.
  1. A ? E G
  2. ? B D F
  3. ? D F Ab
  4. F A C ?
  5. ? F# A C
  6. ? C Eb Gb
  7. E ? B D
  8. Db ? Ab B
C.
Add the two missing chord tones to the following dominant 7th chords.
  1. ? ? G Bb
  2. ? ? C Eb
  3. D ? ? C
  4. A ? E ?
  5. ? G ? Db
  6. ? ? D F
  7. ? G# ? D
  8. Gb ? ? E
D.
Which note is the chord's 3rd (like E in C7) in these dominant 7th chords.
  1. F7
  2. A7
  3. Bb7
  4. D7
  5. B7
  6. Eb7
  7. Db7
  8. E7
E.
Which note is the chord's 7th (like Bb in C7) in these dominant 7th chords.
  1. G7
  2. Eb7
  3. A7
  4. Gb7
  5. E7
  6. Bb7
  7. D7
  8. F7
Quiz Answers



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BL 4.7 - Exercises

A.
Practise Dominant 7th Chords around the Circle of 5ths as shown below.

Demo
lesson05/bl0512.gif

B.
Practise Dominant 7th chords around the Circle of 5ths using a rhythm pattern (1-8 or 9-16) as shown below.

Demo
lesson05/bl0513.gif

Start by going up each time first. Alternating between going up the arpeggio and down is of course a little more difficult at first.


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BL 4.8 - Lesson Material

Chords Ruler
Ex.6 - Dominant 7th Chords Demo 2 bars each key
Rhythm Patterns 1-8 Demo 1-4 Demo 5-8
Rhythm Patterns 9-16 Demo 9-12 Demo 13-16
Take Seven - Bass Clef Melody Play-a-Long in C for Bb instr. in C for Eb instr.
Swapping 2s on Take Seven Demo me 1st you 1st
Swapping 4s on Take Seven me 1st you 1st

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Copyright © 2011 Michael Furstner (Jazclass). All rights reserved.