12 blues/"dominant" 7th
Hello David,
Meeting "real" musicians and trying to keep up with the conversation. What's a "dominant" 7th? Is that the same thing that we play in 12 bar blues, or is the 7th different in some way? If so, how?
There was a conversation about Ray Charles's Unchain My Heart--the first change is a V dominant, not a IV minor--which is what Joe Cocker plays and everyone imitates Joe Cocker.....V dominant more interesting.
Learning to play harmonica will get you in social situations that can be over your head! (Actually, I'm pretty proud, 1) I can hear the difference between the 2 songs, and 2) I halfway understand---at least I know there's some 7th note on the chord that's making all the difference.)
Thank you. I hope this is a legal and short "break" from being forced to have fun :-)
Yes, we're not trained to know this stuff, but I will have lessons on the subject in time... actually I'm in the mountains right now writing theory lessons (at Starbucks right now... no WiFi at the cabin ;-).
A Dominant 7th Chord is a major chord (C E G for example) with the addition of a note a 7th above the root (the root being C and the 7th being B) that is a minor 3rd above the 5th (the 5th is G and a minor 3rd [three half steps] gives you B-flat). So, the final chord is C7, spelled out as C E G B-flat. This is the "blues" chord. We use this spelling for almost all of our chords.