Dominant Seventh Chords and Arpeggios on the Guitar

Dominant chords are built on the fifth note or fifth Degree of major, harmonic and melodic minor scales and after the tonic chord is the most important chord in diatonic chord progressions. Dominant chords add tension to and help identify the key of chord progressions. The Dominant Seventh Chord is the dominant triad with the seventh of its root added.

C Dominant Seventh Arpeggio Permutations

Dominant seventh chords have four notes. There are twenty-four permutations of the notes of the dominant seventh chord. The following exercise is excellent for developing both right and left hand technique on the guitar and an excellent ear training exercise.

Moveable Dominant Chords

Practice Moveable Dominant Seventh Chords on every fret by sliding your fingers up (add frets) or down (subtract frets) but keeping the same finger pattern. Exercises for dominant seventh chords include fingerings and chord diagrams for voicings with the soprano on the first, second and third strings in all keys.

 

Remember, the goal is memorization. Not only will your fingers memorize the positions of the Dominant Seventh Chords and Arpeggios, your ears will also memorize the sounds on the guitar called Ear Training, so make sure your guitar is in tune. You can tune your guitar by ear to the midi player by clicking the tune logo or tune by eye using an electronic guitar tuner. It is recommended that you learn both methods.