Those Dominating Dominant Sevenths

Summary: Musicians love their dominant sevenths. Why do they love them so much? Do dominant sevenths deserve so much attention at the expense of other hard working tax paying seventh chords like major and minor sevenths? To start with, let's examine what a dominant seventh chord is. In its basic form, this chord has four different notes sounding simultaneously, with the spacing of three, three and four semitones between each of its notes (going from the lowest note to the highest n...

Musicians love their dominant sevenths. Why do they love them so much? Do dominant sevenths deserve so much attention at the expense of other hard working tax paying seventh chords like major and minor sevenths? To start with, let's examine what a dominant seventh chord is. In its basic form, this chord has four different notes sounding simultaneously, with the spacing of three, three and four semitones between each of its notes (going from the lowest note to the highest note). Here is a list of twelve different dominant seventh chords: G, B, D and F G#, B#, D# and F# A, C#, E and G Bb, D, F and Ab B, D#, F# and A C, E, G and Bb C#, E#, G# and B D, F#, A and C Eb, G, Bb and Db E, G#, B and D F, A, C and Eb F#, A#, C# and E The above twelve chords belong to the following major and minor keys respectively: C, C#, D, Eb, E, F, F#, G, Ab, A, Bb and B. The chords are called dominant sevenths because their bottom note starts on the fifth degree (called the dominant) of the scale. They also have a top note placed seven letters above the bottom note; hence, the word seventh appears in dominant seventh. For example, our first above listing is G, B, D and F. G is the fifth note in C major or C minor. As well, the F is seven letters above the bottom G (G, A, B, C, D, E and F