How to Play 7th Chords on Guitar

Seventh chords are without question something you’ve heard if you’ve ever listened to Jazz and Blues music. In fact, many other genres like rock, hip-hop, R&B, and soul incorporate these chords to some degree. But what are they, and how can you start playing them? This is something that we’ll uncover as you read on. Let’s dive in!

2. 7th Chords Guitar

Seventh Chords

Your standard seventh chord will take the typical notes found in a triad, consisting of the corresponding scale’s tonic, mediant, and dominant degrees, with an additional interval of a seventh stacked on top.

However, this will slightly vary from the type of seventh chord that’s being played. In fact, we’ll be covering five different types of seventh chords, allowing you to better understand what distinguishes one from another! The five types we’ll be covering are:

  • Major Seventh Chords
  • Minor Seventh Chords
  • Dominant Seventh Chords
  • Diminished Seventh Chords
  • Half-Diminished Seventh Chords

For each example, we’ll be using the note C as our root note.

Let’s begin with our Major Seventh Chords. In forming the foundation, we’ll need the first to take our tonic, mediant, and dominant degrees (1st, 3rd, and 5th notes) of the C major scale, giving us the notes C, E, and G. To conclude our seventh chord, we only need to stack an interval of a major 7th on top. This gives us the note: B.

Breaking down the chord a little further, let’s take a look at the intervals from the root, forming the major seventh chord.

  • Major 3rd – Between the first and third degrees. C > E.
  • Perfect 5th – Between the first and fifth degrees. C > G.
  • Major 7th – Between the first and seventh degrees. C > B.

It’s helpful to see these intervals within our chords because this allows us another means of distinguishing one type of seventh chord from another!

For the next chord, we’ll be dissecting the Minor Seventh Chord. Once again, we’ll be using the tonic, mediant, and dominant degrees, but instead, within the C minor scale. This gives us the notes, C, Eb, and G. To finish our minor seventh chord, we’ll stack an interval of a minor 7th on top, giving us the note, Bb.

Looking into the intervals of our minor seventh chord, we’ll see a bit of a difference, when compared to our major seventh chord:

  • Minor 3rd – Between the first and third degrees. C > Eb.
  • Perfect 5th – Between the first and fifth degrees. C > G.
  • Minor 7th – Between the first and seventh degrees. C > Bb.

As you might have noticed, a minor seventh chord contains two minor intervals, while a major seventh chord contains two major intervals, while the perfect 5th remains consistent in both. Now let’s see how this differs in the coming chords.

The next seventh chord we’ll cover is the Dominant Seventh Chord. For this, as per usual, we’ll be taking the tonic, mediant, and dominant degrees of the C major scale, giving us the notes C, E, and G. However, different from the Major Seventh Chord we covered earlier, we’ll instead be using an interval of a minor 7th (instead of the major 7th). This simply requires us to flatten the B to a Bb.

The intervals within this type of chord resemble a mix between a Major and Minor Seventh Chord. This gives us the following intervals within our chord:

  • Major 3rd – Between the first and third degrees. C > E.
  • Perfect 5th – Between the first and fifth degrees. C > G.
  • Minor 7th – Between the first and seventh degrees. C > Bb.

This can be summarized as a major triad containing a minor 7th stacked on top.

Moving on, our next seventh chord is the Diminished Seventh Chord. Let’s begin by taking our minor triad of notes, in the key of C: C, Eb, and G. Now, we’ll be converting this into a “diminished triad”, in order to do so, we simply flatten the G to Gb, changing the interval from a perfect 5th to a diminished 5th. As we know, in the key of C minor, B is flattened to a Bb, giving us an interval of a minor 7th. However, to form a diminished seventh chord, this interval needs to become a diminished 7th. Therefore, taking our note, Bb, we’ll flatten it once more, giving us the note Bbb (B double flat). This results in the notes: C, Eb, Gb, and Bbb, forming our diminished seventh chord.

Below are the intervals forming the chord. As you’ll notice, the perfect 5th becomes a diminished 5th, and the minor 7th becomes a diminished 7th, as we flat the fifth and seventh degrees:

  • Minor 3rd – Between the first and third degrees. C > Eb.
  • Diminished 5th – Between the first and fifth degrees. C > Gb.
  • Diminished 7th – Between the first and seventh degrees. C > Bbb.

On to our final chord, the Half-Diminished Seventh Chord. This chord is just as it sounds, half-diminished, containing only one diminished interval within. This chord contains our minor triad of notes: C, Eb, and G. However, once again, we’ll be taking the G and flattening it to Gb. However, unlike our last seventh chord, we’ll instead be adding an interval of a minor 7th on top, giving us the note Bb.

Here are how the intervals look in a diminished 7th chord:

  • Minor 3rd – Between the first and third degrees. C > Eb.
  • Diminished 5th – Between the first and fifth degrees. C > Gb.
  • Minor 7th – Between the first and seventh degrees. C > Bb.

Playing Seventh Chords

Now that we’ve broken down the various kinds of seventh chords, let’s look into how we can play them on the guitar, through the use of chord charts. For simplicities sake, we’ll cover each kind of chord in 7 different keys, giving you a feel for how each chord sounds!

Major 7th Chords

3. Major 7th Chords
Chord charts of Major 7th chords played in the keys of A, B, C, D, E, F#, and G.

Amaj7

For the first Major seventh chord, we’ll be playing an A Major 7th, from the open note position. Let’s begin by taking our index finger (1), and placing it over the first fret of the G string. Next, taking our middle finger (2), we’ll put it on the second fret of the D string. Finally, with our ring finger (3), we’ll position it over the second fret of the B string. We’ll mute the low E string, but play the A and high E strings open. Now, from the A string to the high E string, give the guitar a strum; our Amaj7 chord is complete.

Bmaj7

Next is our B Major seventh chord, where we’ll be starting from the fourth fret. Let’s begin by taking our index finger (1), and forming a partial barre over the fourth fret of the D, G, and B strings. To achieve this, simply drape your index finger over the grouping of strings and apply pressure. Next, on the sixth fret, we’ll take our middle finger (2), and place it on the A string. Following that, on the sixth fret once again, we’ll take our ring finger (3), and place it on the high E string. Finally, with our pinky finger (4), we’ll place it over the seventh fret of the low E string. From the low E string to the high E string give the guitar a strum; our Bmaj7 chord is complete.

Cmaj7

For the C Major seventh Chord, we’ll be playing from the open note position. First, we’ll take our index finger (1), and place it over the 2nd fret of the D string. Lastly, we’ll take our middle finger (2), and place it over the third fret of the A string. We’ll mute the low E string, but keep the G, B, and high E strings open. From the A string to the high E string, give the guitar a strum.

Dmaj7

The D Major seventh chord begins from the open note position. All this chord requires is for us to take our index finger (1) and form a partial barre over the second fret of the G, B, and high E strings. Lastly, we leave the D string open, while the low E and A strings remain muted. From the D string to the high E string, give the guitar a strum!

Emaj7

Next is our E Major seventh chord, played from the open note position. First, we’ll take our index finger (1), and form a partial barre over the first fret of the D and G strings. Next, with our middle finger (2), we’ll place it over the third fret of the A string. The low E, B, and high E strings remain open. From the low E string to the high E string, strum the guitar.

F#maj7

The F# Major seventh chord begins from the first fret position. We’ll first be taking our index finger (1), and placing it over the first fret of the high E string. Next, we’ll take our middle finger (2), positioning it over the second fret of the B string. Following that, we’ll now take our ring finger (3), and place it on the third fret of the G string. Finally, with our pinky finger (4), we’ll position it over the fourth fret of the D string. The low E and A strings remain muted. Now, from the D string to the high E string, give the guitar a strum.

Gmaj7

For the final Major seventh chord, we’ll be playing the G Major seventh from the open note position. First, let’s take our index finger (1), and place it over the second fret of the A string. Next, let’s take our middle finger (2), and place it over the second fret of the high E string. Finally, with our ring finger (3), we’ll place it over the third fret of the low E string. The D, G, and B strings remain open. From the low E string to the high E string, give the guitar a strum.

Minor 7th Chords

4. Minor 7th Chords
Chord charts of minor 7th chords played in the keys of A, Bb, C, D, Eb, F, and G.

Amin7

For the first minor seventh chord, we’ll begin with the A minor seventh chord from the open note position. First, taking our index finger (1), we’ll place it on the first fret of the B string. To wrap up this chord, we’ll place our middle finger (2) over the second fret of the D string. The low E string is muted, while the A, G, and high E strings remain open. Now strum the guitar from the A string to the high E string.

Bbmin7

The Bb minor seventh chord will begin from the first fret position. Taking our index finger (1), we’ll form a barre, covering the A string to the high E string. Next, taking our middle finger (2), we’ll place it on the second fret of the B string. Lastly, with our ring finger (3), we’ll position it over the third fret of the D string. The low E string stays muted. Now, from the A string to the high E string, strum the guitar.

Cmin7

Next is the C minor seventh chord, played from the first fret position. We’ll be taking our index finger (1), forming a partial barre over the first fret of the D, G, and B strings. Next, we’ll place our middle finger (2) over the third fret of the A string. Following that, taking our ring finger (3), we’ll place it over the third fret of the G string. Lastly, with our pinky finger (4), we’ll position it over the third fret of the high E string. The low E string will remain muted. From the A string to the high E string, give the guitar a strum.

Dmin7

For the D minor seventh chord, we’ll be starting from the open note position. First, we’ll be forming a partial barre with our index finger (1) over the first fret, covering the B and high E strings. Finally, with our middle finger (2), we’ll position it over the second fret of the G string. We’ll leave the D string open, and keep the E and A strings muted. From the D string to the high E string, we’ll give the guitar a strum.

Ebmin7

Next is the Eb minor seventh chord, where we’ll be starting from the first fret position. Taking our index finger (1), we’ll position it over the first fret of the D string. Following that, we’ll place our middle finger (2) over the second fret of the B string. Next, taking our ring finger (3), we’ll position it over the second fret of the high E string. Finally, with our pinky finger (4), we’ll position it over the third fret of the G string. The low E and A strings remain muted. From the D string to the high E string, strum the guitar.

Fmin7

Now, we’ll be forming the F minor seventh chord from the first fret position. To start off, we’ll be farming a barre chord over the first fret, using our index finger (1). Next, taking our middle finger (2), we’ll form a partial barre, covering the second fret of the D and G strings. Lastly, we’ll take our ring finger (3), and position it over the third fret of the A string. From the low E string to the high E string, let’s strum the guitar.

Gmin7

For the G minor seventh chord, we’ll be starting from the open note position. Let’s start by taking our index finger (1), and placing it over the first fret of the A string. Next, we’ll take our middle finger (2), and place it over the first fret of the high E string. Following that, we’ll take the ring finger (3), placing it on the third fret of the low E string. Finally, we’ll take our pinky finger (4), placing it over the third fret of the B string. The D and G strings remain open. From the low E string to the high E string, let’s give the guitar a strum!

Dominant 7th Chords

5. Dominant 7th Chords
Chord charts of Dominant 7th chords played in the keys of A, B, C, D, E, F#, and G.

Adom7

The A dominant seventh chord will begin from the open note position. First, we’ll take our index finger (1), and place it on the second fret of the D string. To conclude this chord, we’ll take our middle finger (2), and place it on the second fret of the B string. The low E string stays muted, while the A, G, and high E strings remain open. From the A string to the high E string, give the guitar a strum!

Bdom7

Next is our B dominant seventh chord, played from the open note position. First, we’ll take our index finger (1), positioning it over the first fret of the D string. Next, taking our middle finger (2), we’ll place it on the second fret of the A string. With our ring finger (3), we’ll now place it over the second fret of the G string. Finally, with our pinky finger (4), we’ll position it over the second fret of the high E string. The low E string gets muted, while the B string remains open. From the A string to the high E string, strum the guitar.

Cdom7

On to the C dominant seventh chord, which is being played from the third fret position. To start our chord, taking our index finger (1), we’ll be forming a barre over the A string, all the way to the high E string on the third fret. Next, with our ring finger (3), we’ll place it over the fifth fret of the D string. Finally, with our pinky finger (4), we’ll place it on the fifth fret of the B string. We’ll leave the low E string muted. From the A string to the high E string, we’ll give the guitar a strum.

Ddom7

The D dominant seventh chord will begin from the open note position. First, taking our index finger (1), we’ll place it over the first fret of the B string. Next, taking our middle finger (2), we’ll position it over the second fret of the G string. Lastly, with our ring finger (3), we’ll position it on the second fret of the high E string. The low E and A strings remain muted, while the D string remains open. From the D string to the high E string, we’ll strum the guitar.

Edom7

Our next chord is the E dominant seventh chord, played from the open note position. First, we’ll take our index finger (1), and place it over the first fret of the G string. Lastly, we’ll take our middle finger (2), and place it over the second fret of the A string. The E, D, B, and high E strings all stay open. Now, we’ll strum the guitar from the low E string to the high E string.

F#dom7

For the F# dominant seventh chord, we’ll be starting from the open note position. First, taking our index finger (1), we’ll place it over the second fret of the low E string. Following that, with our middle finger (2), we’ll position it over the second fret of the B string. Next, with our ring finger (3), we’ll place it over the third fret of the G string. Lastly, we’ll form a partial barre with our pinky finger (4), covering the fourth fret of the A and D strings. We’ll leave the high E string open. From the low E string to the high E string, let’s give our guitar a strum.

Gdom7

Our final dominant seventh chord is the G dominant seventh, played from the open note position. First, we’ll take our index finger (1), and place it over the first fret of the high E string. Next, with our middle finger (2), we’ll place it over the second fret of the A string. Finally, with our ring finger (3), we’ll position it over the third fret of the low E string. The D, G, and B strings can stay open. From the low E string to the high E string we can give our guitar a strum.

Diminished 7th Chords

6. Diminished 7th Chords
Chord charts of diminished 7th chords played in the keys of A, Bb, C, D, Eb, F, and G.

Adim7

Let’s begin with the A diminished seventh chord, from the open note position. First, we’ll take our index finger (1), and form a partial barre on the first fret, covering the D, G, and B strings. Next, with our middle finger (2), we’ll place it over the second fret of the G string. To wrap this chord up, we’ll place our ring finger (3) on the second fret of the high E string. The low E string remains muted while the A string stays open. From the A string to the high E string we’ll give the guitar a strum.

Bbdim7

Next is our Bb diminished seventh chord, from the open note position. First, taking our index finger (1), we’ll place it on the first fret of the A string. Next, using our middle finger (2), we’ll place it over the second fret of the D string. Finally, with our ring finger (3), we’ll position it over the second fret of the B string. The low E string stays muted while the G, and high E strings stay open. From the A string to the high E string, strum the guitar.

Cdim7

The C diminished seventh chord contains an open note, but most of the shaping will be done from the seventh fret. First, we’ll take our index finger (1), and form a partial barre over the D, G, and B strings. Next, with our middle finger (2), we’ll position it over the ninth fret of the low E string. With our ring finger (3), we’ll place it over the ninth fret of the G string. To conclude our chord, we’ll place our pinky finger (4) on the ninth fret of the high E string; the A string stays open. From the low E string to the high E string, we’ll give the guitar a strum.

Ddim7

For the D diminished seventh chord, we’ll be once again playing from the open note position. First, taking our index finger (1), we’ll place it on the first fret of the G string. Lastly, we’ll take our middle finger (2) and place it on the first fret of the high E string. The E and A strings remain muted, while the D and B strings stay open. Now it’s time to give the guitar a strum, from the D string to the high E string.

Ebdim7

Next is the Eb diminished seventh chord, played from the fifth fret position. Taking our index finger (1), we’ll form a partial barre over the first fret of the G, B, and E strings. Next, with our middle finger (2), we’ll place it on the sixth fret of the A string. Following that, taking our ring finger (3), we’ll place it on the seventh fret of the D string. Wrapping up our chord, our pinky finger (4) with go on the seventh fret of the B string; the low E string remains muted. From the A string to the high E string, let’s give the guitar a strum.

Fdim7

The F diminished seventh chord will begin from the open note position. Using our index finger (1), we’ll place it over the first fret of the low E string. Next, with our middle finger (2), we’ll place it over the first fret of the G string. Finally, with our ring finger (3), we’ll position it over the first fret of the high E string. The A string gets muted, while the D and B strings stay open. From the low E string to the high E string, we’ll give the guitar a strum.

Gdim7

For our final diminished seventh chord, we’ll be playing the G diminished seventh from the third fret position. To kick things off, using our index finger (1), we’ll form a barre chord over the third fret from the low E string to the high E string. Next, we’ll take our middle finger (2), and place it on the fourth fret of the A string. Following that, our ring finger (3) will go on the fifth fret of the D string. Lastly, our pinky finger (4) will go over the fifth fret of the B string. From the low E string to the high E string, we’ll strum the guitar.

Half-Diminished 7th Chords

7. Half Diminished 7th Chords
Chord charts of half-diminished 7th chords played in the keys of A, Bb, C, D, Eb, F, and G.

Amin7(b5)

The A half-diminished seventh chord, otherwise known as the A minor seventh flatted fifth will start from the open note position. Taking our index finger (1), let’s form a partial barre over the first fret of the D, G, and B strings. Next, with our middle finger (2), we’ll position it over the second fret of the G string. Finally, with our ring finger (3), we’ll place it over the second fret of the high E string. The low E string gets muted, while the A string remains open. Now, it’s time to give our guitar a strum from the A string to the high E string.

Bbmin7(b5)

Next up is our Bb half-diminished seventh chord, played from the open note position. Let’s start by taking our index finger (1) and placing it on the first fret of the A string. Next, we’ll take our middle finger (2), and place it over the second fret of the D string. Lastly, we’ll position our ring finger (3) on the second fret of the B string. The low E string will stay muted while the G and high E strings stay open. From the A string to the high E string, we can strum our guitar.

Cmin7(b5)

Our C half-diminished seventh chord will begin from the tenth fret. Our index finger (1) will be placed on the tenth fret of the D string. Following that, we’ll form a partial barre with our middle finger (2), covering the G, B, and high E strings. Our low E and A strings get muted. From the D string to the high E string, let’s strum the guitar.

Dmin7(b5)

For the D half-diminished seventh chord, we’ll be forming the chord shape from the eighth fret. Let’s take our index finger (1), and place it on the eighth fret of the high E string. Next, we can take our middle finger (2), and position it on the ninth fret of the B string. Lastly, we’ll take our ring finger (3), and place it on the tenth fret of the G string. The D string stays open while the low E and A strings get muted. From the D string to the high E string, we can strum the guitar.

Ebmin7(b5)

The next chord is the Eb half-diminished seventh chord, starting from the sixth fret. Let’s kick things off by forming a partial barre with our index finger (1), covering the sixth fret of the A, D, and G strings. Following that, taking our middle finger (2), we’ll position it over the seventh fret of the D string. To conclude our chord, we’ll now take our ring finger (3), placing it over the seventh fret of the B string. We’ll mute the low E and high E strings. From the A string to the B string, we’ll strum the guitar.

Fmin7(b5)

Moving on, our next chord is the F half-diminished chord, starting from the third fret position. Let’s begin by taking our index finger (1), and placing it over the third fret of the D string. Lastly, we’ll form a partial barre with our middle finger (2), covering the fourth fret of the G, B, and high E strings. The low E and A strings get muted. Now we can strum our guitar from the D string to the high E string.

Gmin7(b5)

For our final half-diminished seventh chord, we have the G half-diminished seventh, starting from the third fret position. With our index finger (1), we’ll form a partial barre, covering the third fret of the low E, A, D, and G strings. Next, we’ll place our middle finger (2), over the fourth fret of the A string. Following that, we can now take our ring finger (3), placing it over the fifth fret of the D string. To conclude our chord, we’ll form another partial barre, covering the sixth fret of the B and high E strings. Now let’s give our guitar a strum, from the low E to the high E strings.

Conclusion

Now you have a working knowledge of the various kinds of seventh chords out there! Seventh chords are an amazing tool to have as a musician, allowing you to apply more color, mood, and tension to your chord progressions. You might even choose to expand on this by practicing their different inversions, and variations. Or perhaps you might try your hand at the ninth, eleventh, and thirteenth chords, providing more challenge. The important thing is to have fun exploring the different possibilities and keep on rockin’.

1. How to Play 7th Chords Guitar