Hearing 7th chords

Batman-GMT · October 2022

Brushing up on my ear training lately ,

major / minor/ diminished / augmented triads and dom7 chords I get right nearly every time but I’m struggling terribly recognising just with major 7 and minor 7 …. I assume each containing the opposite triad within them is why I’m finding it so hard

anyone else have the same issue ?

wizbit81 · October 2022

Listen for the pull of the Maj7 to the root, it's this 'nearly there but not quite' sound. m7 just sounds cool and at rest, very chill.

roberty · October 2022

Maybe familiarise yourself with them one at a time instead of both at once

viz · October 2022

If you can hear dom7 chords, then in 99% of the remaining cases a maj7 chord will have a major 3 in it, and a min7 chord will have a minor 3 in it.

And it’s the 3 that tells you whether the chord is major or minor, nothing else.

(There is also the rare James Bond minmaj7 chord with a minor 3 and a major 7 but forget about that.)

So what you’re struggling with is either to hear a 7th note in there at all, or to hear whether the chord is major or minor.

do you know which it is?

DuploLicks · October 2022

Batman-GMT said:

Brushing up on my ear training lately ,

Is there an app or website you’re using? It’s something that I should be doing so I’m interested to see what’s out there

DavidR · October 2022

The best word to describe 7th chords, whether minor or major, is change. I know that sounds a bit weird but give it a go!

Batman-GMT · October 2022

DuploLicks said:

Batman-GMT said:

Brushing up on my ear training lately ,

Is there an app or website you’re using? It’s something that I should be doing so I’m interested to see what’s out there

Earpeggio - it’s free and pretty good

I think part of the issue though is the sounds on Earpeggio are like they are played on a £5 keyboard … if they were played on a real guitar I think I would be better at it

Batman-GMT · October 2022

viz said:

If you can hear dom7 chords, then in 99% of the remaining cases a maj7 chord will have a major 3 in it, and a min7 chord will have a minor 3 in it.

And it’s the 3 that tells you whether the chord is major or minor, nothing else.

(There is also the rare James Bond minmaj7 chord with a minor 3 and a major 7 but forget about that.)

So what you’re struggling with is either to hear a 7th note in there at all, or to hear whether the chord is major or minor.

do you know which it is?

I can hear the 7th as I can hear the difference between 7th chords and their equivalent triads consistently .

viz · October 2022

So if it’s a minor chord, it’ll be a minor 7th.

If it’s a major chord, it’ll be a major 7th, unless it’s a dom7 which you can hear already.

Don’t think about the internal triad stuff, it’s completely unnecessary and I’ve never heard of it as a method or therefore a potential source of confusion.

merlin · October 2022

Turn the gain up as high as it will go. Then it won't matter.

Roland · October 2022

Batman-GMT said:

I think part of the issue though is the sounds on Earpeggio are like they are played on a £5 keyboard … if they were played on a real guitar I think I would be better at it

Have you tried playing the chords on a guitar instead of using the app?

Danny1969 · October 2022

I was discussing chord quality with a 15 year old student, explaining the maj7 has a lovely wistful sound, used for a kinda melancholy feel in a song. What band is he in says the student ?

Brad · October 2022

You really need to be singing this stuff.

Sing the notes of the chords up and down, with the guitar and without.

Play each chord, try and sing each chord tone.

Do this against a root note too.

Thank me later

Blueingreen · October 2022

I found it useful to think of particular sounds on songs. Eg for me the Major 7th was the "My Love" chord, because that was the first song I learned that started with a Maj 7 chord. Min 7 was the "Once there was a way chord" because it's the first chord on Golden Slumbers. Dom 7 from James Brown's "Out of Sight". None of these choices were consciously made, I heard the chord and thought "that sounds like the chord from "song" and that developed into my test for that chord. I'm not suggesting the same songs for other people, use what's familiar to you. Obviously the idea is that this is an intermediate step and eventually you throw away the crutch of the song and just recognise the sound, but I found it helpful.

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Hearing 7th chords

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