CadenzaC dominant seventh
C7
Also written Cdom7 · C dominant 7
The dominant seventh: V of F major. C7 resolves to F (or Fm), its 3rd rising a semitone to F and its ♭7 falling to A. The 3rd and ♭7 are a tritone apart, and F♯7 has the same tritone — the tritone substitute.
How pianists voice C7
Nobody plays a jazz chord in root position. These are the shapes that actually get played — the same ones Cadenza shows when you play the chord.
Shell Left hand
1 · 3 · ♭7 — root, 3rd and 7th: the three notes that say what the chord is. Left hand, low; everything else is colour.
Rootless A From the 3rd
3 · 5 · ♭7 · 9 — no root: the bass player has it. The left-hand voicing of modern jazz piano. Without C underneath, the same keys read as Eø7 — the bass turns them into C7.
Rootless B From the 7th
♭7 · 9 · 3 · 5 — the other half of the pair. A and B alternate through a ii–V–I so the hand barely moves.
Drop 2 Two hands
5 · 1 · 3 · ♭7 — close position with the second voice from the top dropped an octave: wider, warmer, the standard for chord melody.
C7 inversions
The same 4 notes with a different one in the bass. Each inversion is written as a slash chord.
Root position C7
Root at the bottom, stacked in 3rds: 1 · 3 · 5 · ♭7.
1st inversion C7/E
E (the 3) in the bass: 3 · 5 · ♭7 · 1.
2nd inversion C7/G
G (the 5) in the bass: 5 · ♭7 · 1 · 3.
3rd inversion C7/B♭
B♭ (the ♭7) in the bass: ♭7 · 1 · 3 · 5.
Dominant seventh chords in every key
Every C chord
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