Seventh chord in the context of "Equal temperament"

Musical technique is the ability of instrumental and vocal musicians to exert optimal control of their instruments or vocal cords in order to produce the precise musical effects they desire. Improving one's technique generally entails practicing exercises that improve one's muscular sensitivity and agility. Technique is independent of musicality. Compositional technique is the ability and knowledge composers use to create music, and may be distinguished from instrumental or performance technique, which in classical music is used to realize compositions, but may also be used in musical improvisation. Extended techniques are distinguished from more simple and more common techniques. Musical technique may also be distinguished from music theory, in that performance is a practical matter, but study of music theory is often used to understand better and to improve techniques. Techniques such as intonation or timbre, articulation, and musical phrasing are nearly universal to all instruments.

To improve their technique, musicians often practice ear training. For example, musical intervals, and fundamental patterns and of notes such as the natural, minor, major, and chromatic scales, minor and major triads, dominant and diminished sevenths, formula patterns and arpeggios. For example, triads and sevenths teach how to play chords with accuracy and speed. Scales teach how to move quickly and gracefully from one note to another (usually by step). Arpeggios teach how to play broken chords over larger intervals. Many of these components of music are found in difficult compositions, for example, a large tuple chromatic scale is a very common element to Classical and Romantic era compositions as part of the end of a phrase.

Musicians use various kinds of chord names and symbols in different contexts to represent musical chords. In most genres of popular music, including jazz, pop, and rock, a chord name and its corresponding symbol typically indicate one or more of the following:

• the root note (e.g. C♯)
• the chord quality (e.g. minor or lowercase m, or the symbols or + for diminished and augmented chords, respectively; chord quality is usually omitted for major chords)
• whether the chord is a triad, seventh chord, or an extended chord (e.g. )
• any altered notes (e.g. sharp five, or ♯5)
• any added tones (e.g. )
• the bass note if it is not the root (e.g. a slash chord)

For instance, the name C augmented seventh, and the corresponding symbol C, or C, are both composed of parts 1 (letter 'C'), 2 ('aug' or '+'), and 3 (digit '7'). These indicate a chord formed by the notes C–E–G–B. The three parts of the symbol (C, aug, and ) refer to the root C, the augmented (fifth) interval from C to G♯, and the (minor) seventh interval from C to B♭.

In music, the fifth factor of a chord is the note or pitch that is the fifth scale degree, counting the root or tonal center. When the fifth is the bass note, or lowest note, of the expressed chord, the chord is in second inversion Play.

Conventionally, the fifth is second in importance to the root, with the fifth being perfect in all primary triads (I, IV, V and i, iv, v). In jazz chords and theory however, the fifth is often omitted, or assumed, in preference for the chord quality determining third and chord extensions and additions.

In music theory, a dominant seventh chord, or major minor seventh chord, is a seventh chord composed of a root, major third, perfect fifth, and minor seventh; thus it is a major triad together with a minor seventh. It is often denoted by the letter name of the chord root and a superscript "7". In most cases, dominant seventh chord are built on the fifth degree of the major scale. An example is the dominant seventh chord built on G, written as G, having pitches G–B–D–F:

The leading note and the subdominant note combined form a diminished fifth, also known as a tritone. The clashing sound produced by playing these two notes together gives the dominant seventh chord its dissonant quality (i.e. its harmonic instability).

The augmented seventh chord, or seventh augmented fifth chord, or seventh sharp five chord is a seventh chord composed of a root, major third, augmented fifth, and minor seventh (1, 3, ♯5, ♭7). It can be viewed as an augmented triad with a minor seventh. When using popular-music symbols, it is denoted by +, aug, or . For example, the augmented seventh chord built on A♭, written as A♭+, has pitches A♭-C-E-G♭:

The chord can be represented by the integer notation {0, 4, 8, 10}.

The first inversion of a chord is the voicing of a triad, seventh chord, or ninth chord in which the third of the chord is the bass note and the root a sixth above it. In the first inversion of a C-major triad, the bass is E — the third of the triad — with the fifth and the root stacked above it (the root now shifted an octave higher), forming the intervals of a minor third and a minor sixth above the inverted bass of E, respectively.

In the first inversion of G-dominant seventh chord, the bass note is B, the third of the seventh chord.

The second inversion of a chord is the voicing of a triad, seventh chord, or ninth chord in which the fifth of the chord is the bass note. In this inversion, the bass note and the root of the chord are a fourth apart which traditionally qualifies as a dissonance. There is therefore a tendency for movement and resolution. In notation form, it may be referred to with a c following the chord position (e.g., Ic. Vc or IVc). In figured bass, a second-inversion triad is a
₄ chord (as in I
₄), while a second-inversion seventh chord is a
₃ chord.

Note that any voicing above the bass is allowed. A second inversion chord must have the fifth chord factor in the bass, but it may have any arrangement of the root and third above that, including doubled notes, compound intervals, and omission (G-C-E, G-C-E-G', G-E-G-C'-E', etc.)