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Seventh Chords

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(@cmaracz)
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Joined: 19 years ago
Posts: 155
Topic starter  

Adding the seventh to a major or minor chord usually makes it sound jazzier and is used extensively in jazz as well as the blues. I have two questions about their use though. There seems to be two voicings for any seventh chord in the open opisition. One involves taking a finger off the fretboard, or shifting one finger to a lower note (towards the headstock.) The second method involves placing a finger unto the fingerboard. For instance you can play A7 in the open position by either taking away the finger on the second fret of the G string or by adding a finger to the third fret (I believe) of the high E string.

What difference in expression do thee methods of voicing have? Does one sound more or less intense? Does one sound more or less emotional? Also, which note are you replacing for the seventh in either method, a root note, a third, or a fifth? or does it depend on the chord?


   
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(@greybeard)
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They are simply different voicings of the same chord. I you tak the Amaj chord, you can take the middle finger off the g string and play a G (7th) instead of an A (root), or you can play the 3 notes and add a G on the 3rd fret of the high E. They are the same chord, but just sound a little different - the 7ths are an octave apart.

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(@wishus)
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Joined: 20 years ago
Posts: 53
 

Adding to what greybeard said, play the voicing that sounds best in your particular song. Sometimes the one with the 7th on the lower octave sounds muddy, so you might play the other voicing so that it really stands out that this is a 7th chord. Just play whichever one sounds better in the context of the song.

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(@cmaracz)
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Joined: 19 years ago
Posts: 155
Topic starter  

Thanks guys. Yeah that actually helped me out. I thought it might actually have somethign else to do though with what note you're replacing though, like in method two adding a finger to the high e in a A majorchord you're replacing the e, fifth. While if you take you're finger off the g string you're taking away a root note. I thought there may be some difference to effect in that caused by the difference balance of root-third-fifth.


   
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