It's called a seventh chord because it adds a seventh interval above the root of a basic three-note triad (root, third, fifth), creating a four-note chord (root, third, fifth, seventh). The "seventh" refers to the note's position in the scale, stacking thirds (1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th degree) from the root, with the most common being the dominant seventh (V7).
The "forbidden chord" in music refers to the tritone, an interval spanning three whole tones (six semitones), known for its harsh dissonance, historically called diabolus in musica (devil in music) and avoided in medieval church music for sounding unpleasant and unsettling, but now a crucial tool in genres from jazz to metal for creating tension.
C7 is the diatonic seventh chord built on a root which is the dominant scale degree of F major. The chord is named for the scale degree of its root within a diatonic major scale.
The key difference between a C7 chord (C, E, G, Bb) and a C major 7th chord (C, E, G, B) lies in the seventh note: C7 has a minor seventh (Bb), while Cmaj7 has a major seventh (B). (Cmaj)(♭7) where the maj is redundant, we know it by default. The ♭ is a bit tricky. Sevenths are minor by default.
The scariest piano chords rely on dissonance, tension, and instability, with top contenders being diminished chords, the unsettling minor major 7th (Hitchcock chord), tight note clusters, the dissonant tritone, and progressions like the C minor to A-flat minor used in movie themes for instant dread. Playing these with heavy sustain, slow arpeggiation, or in unsettling inversions builds maximum creepiness.
Jimi Hendrix's "favorite chord" is widely considered the dominant 7th sharp 9th (7#9), famously known as the "Hendrix Chord," characterized by its tense, bluesy sound, often played as an E7#9 in songs like "Purple Haze" and "Foxy Lady," blending major and minor qualities with a sharp ninth. He used variations of this chord and thumb-over-the-neck techniques to add richness and movement, creating his signature sound.
Jimi Hendrix's famous chord is the Dominant Seventh Sharp Ninth (7#9), often called the "Hendrix Chord," known for its dissonant yet bluesy "sweet-and-sour" sound, prominently featured in "Purple Haze" and "Foxy Lady," creating tension by mixing major and minor thirds within a single chord. The classic E7#9 voicing uses fingers on the 7th fret (A string), 6th fret (D string), 7th fret (G string), and 8th fret (B string), often with the open low E string ringing out.
A dominant seventh chord, or major-minor seventh chord is a chord composed of a root, major third, perfect fifth -- a major triad -- with an additional minor seventh. It is denoted using popular music symbols by adding a superscript "7" after the letter designating the chord root.
7th chords can be used in pop and rock music to create a more emotional feel. For example, in the Beatles' song “Hey Jude,” the song opens with a C Major 7th chord, which sets the melancholic tone for the rest of the song.
No talk of inversions or root chords. It is called dominant because it emanates from the dominant note which is on the fifth degree of the scale.
C7 is a dominant 7th chord built on C, but it appears in the key of F major. G7 is a dominant chord in the key of C major, built on G. You need to look at the key that the root is the fifth of to find a dominant seventh chord built on that root. That's why it's called a "dominant" chord!
For instance, G7 is the dominant seventh chord in the key of C major, as it is the fifth note of the C major scale. If this sounds overly complicated, all you need to do is count the white notes from the G to the F in the root position, as there are a total of seven notes, which is why it's called G7.
The musical interval of a tritone or diminished fifth was referred to as The Devil's Chord (or the Devil In Music) and subsequently banned by the Roman Catholic Church.
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The Swiss augmented-sixth chord has four members: le, do, ri, and fi. This chord is named “Swiss” because it sounds German but is spelled like the French. (ri in place of me) (Switzerland has a mixture of German-, French-, Italian-, and Romansch-based languages, with German and French being the largest.)
The root is E, the 3rd is G# and the 5th is B. Starting at the high E, the notes each string play are E, B, G#, E, B, and E. Thats why it sounds like an E chord. All strings are the root, 3rd or 5th of the scale of E major.
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Not only did Jimi Hendrix expand the sonic possibilities of what a guitar could do, but he also found uncharted places that a guitar could take you to.
The 80/20 rule (Pareto principle) applied to guitar means 80% of your musical results come from focusing on just 20% of crucial skills, like core chords, rhythm, scales (pentatonic/blues), and timing, cutting out "fluff" for faster progress. It suggests focusing heavily on essential skills like basic chords, strumming, and rhythm (the "80%") to achieve most of your playing goals, rather than getting lost in advanced theory or complex solos, which often yield less practical benefit early on.
These things are a bit subjective, but there's one particular chord that many people thinks wins the prize for being creepy! It's called a major minor 7th chord, aka the Hitchcock chord.
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Reflecting on the first time he saw Hendrix perform in the mid-60s, Jagger recalled that the American guitar hero was “exciting, sexy, [and] interesting”. Despite not being the biggest fan of Hendrix's vocal capabilities, Jagger could see he was a uniquely gifted guitarist.
Popular 3-chord songs span genres and eras, often using common progressions like G-C-D or A-D-E, and include classics like The Troggs' "Wild Thing," CCR's "Bad Moon Rising," Bob Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind," Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues," and modern hits like Ed Sheeran's "Thinking Out Loud" or The Weeknd's "Blinding Lights," proving simple structures create enduring hits.