--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Bhairitu <noozguru@...> wrote: > > On 01/05/2012 11:56 PM, cardemaister wrote: > > > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Bhairitu<noozguru@> wrote: > >> On 01/05/2012 03:19 PM, cardemaister wrote: > >>> --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Bhairitu<noozguru@> wrote: > >>>> On 01/05/2012 12:56 AM, cardemaister wrote: > >>>>> I'm not absolutely sure about that, but I guess I finally > >>>>> figgered out why e.g. C7 is called a *dominant* seventh chord > >>>>> (of the C major scale?). > >>>>> > >>>>> As most of us might know, the 7 in C7 is B-flat, which > >>>>> doesn't belong to the C major scale. > >>>>> > >>>>> But if you form a similar seventh chord starting (as the root) from > >>>>> the *dominant* of C major scale, which is G, the diminished > >>>>> seventh is F, which is the fourth (subdominant) of the > >>>>> *C major* scale. :o > >>>> A dominant chord is one based on the 5th step of a major scale. Hence > >>>> the dominant 7th chord for C is G7. C7 is the dominant 7th chord for > >>>> the F major scale. A little music theory goes a long ways. > >>>> > >>> That sure would make more sense, but the first figure on this > >>> Wiki article: > >>> > >>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominant_seventh > >>> > >>> ...sez: dominant seventh chord on C: C7 [not G7] > >> That reference is for the different 7th chords on C such as C maj7 C7 > >> Cmi7 Cdim7 etc. But a dominant chort is the 5 chord which would be G in > >> the key of C. Go look up "dominant chord." > >> > > OK. But I think in "normal" 12 bar blues in C, the seventh chord > > is (usually?) C7. Isn't that then called a dominant seventh? > > A C7 would be a dominant seventh chord for the key of F. You need to > study music theory from the ground up or you'll be confused. >
This from one website (emphasis added): Dominant Seventh Chord One area of confusion when naming or identifying seventh chords is the use of the term dominant seventh chord. If you look at the table above summarising the degree of the scale where each type of seventh chord occurs, you will see that the dominant seventh need not lie only on the Vth degree of the scale, the degree we call the dominant. Indeed, in the natural minor scale, the dominant seventh chord lies on the VIIth degree not on the Vth degree. The point to remember is that the ***dominant seventh chord is any chord formed by adding a minor seventh to a major triad***. Remember too that the chord's note name is determined by its root note. So the chord G B D F is written G7 because the root note is G. G B D is a major triad and F is the minor seventh above G. This chord, therefore, is a dominant seventh chord. In the key of C major, the notes G B D F form a seventh chord on the Vth degree, i.e. a dominant seventh on the dominant of the scale. This is also true for the C minor natural and C minor melodic scales. However, the same notes, G B D F, are a G7 chord and a dominant seventh on the fourth (IV) degree of the D melodic minor scale. For completeness, we note finally that the notes G B D F are also a G7 chord and a dominant seventh on the seventh (VII) degree of the A natural minor scale.
