Dominant Chords - Guitar Command

A complete guide to dominant chords, including dominant seventh, ninth, eleventh and thirteenth chords. What they are, how they’re formed, and how to play dominant chords on your guitar.

The article is aimed at guitarists, and includes examples of dominant chord shapes that you can play. Other musicians will also find the content useful, as we explain what dominant chords are, how they are constructed, and how they are used…

Page Index

If you’re confused by anything on this page, check out our complete guide to chord theory, which covers different types of guitar chords and essential chord terminology.

Also, feel free to ask us anything related to dominant chords in the comments section at the bottom of this page!

Introduction

G7 is the dominant seventh chord in the key of C major (and C minor).

The unresolved sound of dominant 7th chords, and the way in which they “pull” the music back to the tonic chord (in the above example, the C major chord), is their main characteristic. Dominant chords are used to create tension, which can then be resolved.

Try playing the dominant seventh – tonic chord changes below and listen out for the feeling of resolution when the tonic chord is played.

• E7 to A
• A7 to D
• D7 to G

Terms

Basic definitions of some of the terms used on this page are provided below:

• Diatonic scale = a seven-note scale, such as a major scale.
• Root note = the note from which a chord takes its name, i.e. the C note in a C major chord, or the G note in a G7 chord.
• Triad chord = a chord consisting of a root, third (the note two notes up from the root) and a fifth (the note four notes up from the root).
• Seventh chord = a triad chord to which the seventh note (the note six notes up from the root) has been added.

What Are Dominant Chords?

Dominant chords are major triads whose root note is the fifth degree (i.e. the fifth note) of a diatonic scale. Major triad chords contain a root, a major third and a perfect fifth.

In popular music, the term “dominant chord” nearly always refers to a dominant seventh* chord. To make a dominant seventh chord, a minor seventh note is added to the dominant triad.

*The term “dominant chord” can also refer to extended and or altered seventh chords. These are dominant seventh chords with additional notes. We cover extended dominant chords, such as 9ths and 13ths, etc. in the “Extended Dominant Chords” section of this page.

In the key of C, the dominant seventh chord is G7 (G being the fifth note of the C major scale). You can see how a G7 chord is constructed in the “Building The Dominant 7th Chord In C Major” section, below.

Tritones

A dominant seventh chord contains a musical interval known as a “tritone”, which is a gap of 3 tones / 6 semitones.

Tritones are known for their dissonant sound, and the tritone contained within a dominant seventh chord is what gives it its unresolved quality.

The notes forming a tritone in a dominant chord are the major third and the minor seventh.

Building The Dominant 7th Chord In C Major

A C major scale contains 7 notes: C D E F G A B.

The dominant seventh chord from this scale would have a root of G, a major third of B (the seventh note of C major), a perfect fifth of D (the ninth note – you have to imagine that the scale is extended another octave), and a minor seventh of F (the eleventh note of the scale).

Dominant 7th chords can be further extended to create ninth, eleventh and thirteenth chords. Read more about extended seventh chords further down the page.

How Are Dominant Chords Used In Music?

Dominant chords create a feeling of “expectancy” in music. This expectancy is resolved when the next chord is the tonic chord. This resolution effect is used by composers and songwriters in all kinds of music.

Play this chord sequence to hear how strong the pull back to the tonic is.

Notice how you’ve created a “musical cliffhanger”; after the G7 chord your ears want to hear the final C chord!

The expectancy / resolution effect of dominant chords can be used in many ways, including: to reinforce the original key, to provide a pleasing end to a musical phrase, or to introduce a new key.

Dominant chords are not always resolved to the tonic chord, and additional musical effects are created when dominant chords are followed by chords such as the vi (Am in the key of C) or IV (F in the key of C). Try playing these chords after the G7 in the ‘cliffhanger’ progression above.

Changing Key With Dominant Chords

Introducing a dominant chord from another key is a very common way of changing key within a song or other piece of music, for example, to move from a verse to a chorus (or vice versa).

For example, if you’re writing a song in the key of C, try introducing a C7 chord, which is the dominant 7th of F major, to change key to F major.

The strong sound of a dominant seventh chord “pulls” the music into the new key!

Extended Dominant Chords

Dominant seventh chords are often extended to create dominant ninth, eleventh and thirteenth chords (the ‘dominant’ part of their names is often omitted). All of these chords are based on the dominant seventh chord. Their chord symbols are 9, 11 and 13 respectively.

The additional notes in extended dominant chords are always a third higher (i.e., 2 notes further up the diatonic scale from which the dominant chord was formed) than the preceding extended note.

• A ninth (9) chord contains the notes of a dominant seventh chord, plus the ninth note.
• An eleventh (11) chord contains all the notes from a ninth chord, plus the eleventh note.
• A thirteenth (13) chord contains all of the notes from an eleventh chord, plus the thirteenth note.

The diagram below shows the chords that are created when a G dominant chord is extended. The G dominant chord is built from the C major scale.

• Major triad formed from 5th note of major scale: G B D
• Adding a seventh note (i.e. the note seven notes up the C major scale from G, which is an F) creates a dominant seventh chord: G B D F
• Adding a ninth note to the dominant 7th chord creates a dominant ninth chord: G B D F A
• Adding an eleventh note to the dominant 9th chord creates a dominant eleventh chord: G B D F A C
• Adding a thirteenth note to the dominant 11th chord creates a dominant thirteenth chord: G B D F A C E

As each note is added, the resultant chord, while still recognizably dominant, acquires a new sound. Listen to the difference in sound between the dominant guitar chords below:

9th / 11th / 13th Notes Vs 2nd / 4th / 6th Notes

Ninth, eleventh and thirteenth notes are essentially the same notes as the second, fourth and sixth notes.

However, the terms ‘ninth’ ‘eleventh’ and ‘thirteenth’ are used because the chord is extending beyond the seventh note.

See the chart in the “Other Notes In Guitar Chords” section of our main Guitar Chords Theory page for more information.

Missing Notes In Guitar Chords!

You may have noticed that in some of the example dominant guitar chord shapes above, one or more notes may be missing (e.g., the D11 shape doesn’t contain a A).

Most extended dominant guitar chord shapes omit one or more notes. This is because of physical limitations of both the instrument and of the human hand!

In other words, although theoretically, a G11 chord contains the notes: G, B, D, F, A, a typical G11 guitar chord may only contain the notes: G, B, F, A, omitting the D note (which is the 5th note of the chord).

In music theory, many chords contain more than six notes if written out in full (the G13 above contains 7 notes). In order to play these chords on the guitar, non-essential notes (notes that don’t have a large influence on the sound of a chord) can be omitted.

How To “Cheat” If You Don’t Know An Extended Chord!

Because each extended dominant chord contains the notes of a dominant 7th chord, you can always play a standard 7th chord in their place. This is handy if you’ve either forgotten the extended version, or if the chord changes are happening too quickly for you to play the full versions.

Conclusion

This article contains a lot of information, so if you have got this far, congratulations! If you have any questions, feel free to ask them in the comments below.

For a complete guide to guitar chords, check out this page: Guitar Chord Theory

For a printable guitar chord book, check out this page: Printable Guitar Chord Book

Mastered dominant chords? It’s time to discover Altered Chords!