Easy Guitar Chords In Minor And Dominant 7th

Are you a musician wanting to learn some new chords?

Learn how to play easy guitar chords in minor and dominant 7th. This lesson will cover the basics of chord construction, finger placement, and common shapes.

These chords are great for beginner guitar players, and they can be used in a variety of songs.

More Easy Guitar Chords in Minor And Dominant 7th

We will now explore another set of beginner guitar chords you can use in playing songs. Next to your 5 major guitar chords are a few easy guitar chords in minor and dominant 7th chords. 

If you ever wonder why music is making you feel a certain way, it’s all because of a change of note in your scale. As you practice these chords, notice the different taste of sound produced by major, minor and dominant 7th chords.

Major chords sound brighter and happy while minor chords sound sad. Chords in dominant 7th are widely used in blues music, these chords provide a sense of tension, which helps keep music engaging. 

Minor and dominant 7th may sound a little complicated but some of it can look so basic in form and we find these chords in mix with most progressions used in a song.

How do you form minor chords?

To form an easy guitar chord in minor, simply take the root note, flattened third and fifth of the major scale (1 b3 5). For example, in the key of A minor, you would use the notes A, C and E.

How do you form dominant 7th chords?

To form an easy guitar chord in dominant 7th, simply take the root note, third, fifth and flattened seventh of the major scale (1 3 5 b7). For example, in the key of A dominant 7th, you would use the notes A, C#, E and G.

What are 7th chords?

7th chords are a unique class of four-tone (or note) chords that includes the three intervals established in major and minor harmonies.

The most important thing to remember when playing 7th chords is that you have an additional note, which can either be a major or minor seventh. This adds more than just tension in your chord for this particular type of progression and creates some really bluesy and jazzy sounds!

Easy Guitar Chords in Minor

Minor chords sound darker but it can create an interesting mood when mixed with major chords. The difference between a major and a minor chord is the 3rd in a scale. A major chord contains the 1^st, 3^rd, and 5^th degree of the major scale. An easy change of a flattened third makes a minor chord.

A minor (Am)

This looks like your E major chord in form. You just have to lower all fingers down with one string. In forming the chord, you can imagine a shape of a little mountain. You can find Am in a chord progression with songs in key of C, G and F.

• Place your 1st finger on the 2nd string/1st fret
• Place your 2nd finger on the 4th string/2nd fret
• Place your 3rd finger on the 3rd string/2nd fret
• Play string 5 open (this is your bass note, A)
• Do not play the 6th string, (X)

D minor (Dm)

From your D chord, make a slight adjustment by moving your note in the first string half step backward. Switch your 1st and 2nd fingers to comfortably form the chord. You can play this chord in the following keys: C, Bb and F.

• Place your 1st finger on the 1st string/1st fret
• Place your 2nd finger on the 3rd string/2nd fret
• Place your 3rd finger on the 2nd string/3rd fret
• Play string 4 open (this is your bass note, D)
• Do not play 6th and 5th string, (X)

E minor (Em)

The first chord everyone can learn as a beginner. Taking your first finger off the fretboard from your E chord makes a new chord, Em. It is one of the minor chords widely used in a song. This chord is played in songs with the key of C, G and D.

• Place your 2nd finger on the 5th string/2nd fret
• Place your 3rd finger on the 4th string/2nd fret 
• Play string 6, 3, 2 and 1 open (with 6th open string as your bass note, E)

Easy Guitar Chords Dominant 7th

Dominant seventh chords add new flavor to the song you’re playing. You may not find this often in your favorite songs but learning these basic open chords will not hurt and is still important especially if you like blues music and genres using this chord. Some of the rock and pop music uses blues progression with dominant seventh chords.

A dominant 7th (A7)

From chord A, you just unfret the note in the 3rd string to make it A7. You will find this easy with your basic open chords since it only needs a slight adjustment from A.

• Place your 2nd or 1st finger on the 4th string/2nd fret
• Place your 3rd or 2nd finger on the 2nd string/2nd fret
• Play string 5 open (this is your bass note, A)
• Do not play the 6th string, (X)

B dominant 7th (B7)

This chord will make all your fingers work on the fret but since they’re close enough in distance, packed in 2 frets, this is worth trying as a beginner.

• Place your 1st finger on the 4th string/1st fret
• Place your 2nd finger on the 5th string/2nd fret (this is your bass note, B)
• Place your 3rd finger on the 3rd string/2nd fret
• Place your 4th finger on the 1st string/2nd fret
• Do not play the 6th string, (X)

C dominant 7th (C7)

This dominant 7th chord is formed by adding one more note from chord C, fretting your pinkie on the 3rd string of the 3rd fret. This will stretch your fingers, but with a little practice and perseverance, you’ll be able to do it.

• Place your 1st finger on the 2nd string/1st fret
• Place your 2nd finger on the 4th string/2nd fret
• Place your 3rd finger on the 5th string/3rd fret (this is your bass note, C)
• Place your 4th finger on the 3rd string/3rd fret
• Play string 1 open
• Do not play the 6th string, (X)

D dominant 7th (D7)

Another easy chord done by moving your note on the 2nd string of your D chord, a whole step backward. You can think of this chord shape as a triangle, which is easy to remember.

• Place your 1st finger on the 2nd string/1st fret 
• Place your 2nd finger on the 3rd string/2nd fret
• Place your 3rd finger on the 1st string/2nd fret
• Play string 4 open (this is your bass note, D)
• Do not play 6th and 5th string, (X)

E dominant 7th (E7)

To make a dominant 7th of an E chord, you just simply take your 3rd finger off the fretboard and play the 4th string open.

• Place your 1st finger on the 3rd string/1st fret
• Place your 2nd finger on the 5th string/2nd fret
• Play string 6, 4, 2 and 1 open (with 6th open string as your bass note, E)

This is probably the simplest dominant 7th chords for a beginner to play. It will only take you seconds to learn this chord if you have already played the E major chord comfortably.

Difference Between a Major, Minor and Dominant 7th Chords

The difference between a major and a minor chord is the quality of the third note. In a major chord, the third note is played one fret higher than in a minor chord. A dominant seventh chord is simply a major chord with the addition of a flatted 7th note.

Now that you know the difference between the three chords, get out there and start jamming!

All Easy Guitar Chords!

It looks like you have a load of easy guitar chords to learn. You will find that there are patterns in forming minor and dominant 7th from your major chord. Once you are able to figure out these patterns, it will be easier for you to recognize and form each chord.

The next challenge is changing chords while strumming consistently. Using all six songs we previously shared to you, diligently practicing both hands in fretting and strumming, these two must find better coordination while doing different things at the same time. 

Start with your left hand, fretting chords on and off the fretboard. This will make your hand get familiar with the chords. Do it several times until you build muscle memory.

After fretting chords comfortably, begin strumming with your right hand. It is highly recommended that you establish a steady rhythm while changing chords, better use a metronome for accuracy. Also, it is a good practice to continue strumming even if you are having a hard time forming and changing chords. To make things better, always start at a slow pace. This reminder is useful and works every time in finding your footing of both hands in movement.

More than the obstacles, things are definitely getting more exciting strumming more easy guitar chords. Play Strong!