7th chords, moving by 5ths

As we have discussed previously, bass movement by 5th is a common and gratifying harmonic motion. In this lesson, we will employ the 7th chord as we continue to explore this motion.

We will start by resisting an exercise seen in a previous chapter:

Now, with the added 7th.

As we had discussed previously, the jump from one chord to another lack a desired playability and smoothness. By using inversions of the 7th chord, we can play through this passage with greater ease.

In the following pattern, the will we bring the top two notes of the Cmaj7 chord down by one step, and then we will rearticualte the new chord. Next, we will bring the bottom two notes down by step, and rearticualte that new chord. By repeating this pattern, we will pass through every chord in this cycle. We will end back on C major in root position, and will have played every 7th chord in the key of C major, in two different inversions; root position and second inversion.

Let’s now try this in G major.

And F major

Now, we will try this with an option position 7th chord. The notes will be the same, though the movement occurs with first the inner, then outer voices; not the top pair and bottom pair of voices of the previous examples. These examples show the Roman numeral chords as well.

G major

F major

In the next lesson, we will leave the idea of building chords with stacked thirds, and instead employ the use of 4ths to create more contemporary sounds.