There’s a number of ways to approach 7th chords on the piano. In this tutorial I teach you the basic way to know how to play 7th chords on the piano. We will cover the 3 basic 7th chords, the major 7th chord, the dominant 7th chord and also the minor 7th chord.
A 7th chord is simply a chord that has the notes 1 3 5 & 7 of the scale in it.
If you learn all 12 major scales that can be a real help, but for now you may just what to think about C major scale. All white notes, C going up to C.
C E F G A B C. We can number these notes 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Every Major 7 chord is 1 3 5 & 7 of the major scale so C Major7 is C E G & B.
Every Dominant 7 chord is 1 3 5 & b7 of the major scale, so C7 or C dominant 7 is C E G Bb
Minor 7 is 1 b3 5 b7 e.g. Cm7 or C-7 = C Eb G Bb
There’s more 7th chords then that, but that’s enough for now. Watch the vids and let me know if you have any questions. All the best! Glenn
For more advanced players
You may what to think of the chords not as 1 b3 5 b7 for a minor scale etc but as the 2nd chord of the major scale. For e.g. D-7 (Dminor7) can be thought of as the 2nd chord of C major scale. No black notes, just start on D and go up in thirds (skip a note each time). So D-7 is D F A C.
The other way to think of it is to start with D major the scale in mind and then lower the 3rd and 7th note. D major the scale is D E F# G A B C# D. So if you lower the 3rd (F#) you are left with F. And again if you lower the 7th (C#) you are left with just C.
2 ways to get the same result. I sometimes find it easier to use one method and at other times to work out a 7th chord I will use the other method. It usually depends on my familiarity with the key I will use as a starting point. There is more on this in Lesson 2. Hope that helps!