Chords
G# Dominant seventh
G# · B# · D# · F#
The dominant seventh — a major triad with a minor seventh. The chord that creates the pull home.
Also written G#dom
G# Dominant seventh
G# · B# · D# · F#
Voicings on the piano
| Voicing | Notes | Play it on your instrument |
|---|---|---|
| Closed, root position | G#3 · B#4 · D#4 · F#4 | |
| Open (drop 2) | D#3 · G#3 · F#4 · B#4 | |
| Shell | G#3 · B#4 · F#4 | |
| Rootless | B#3 · E#4 · F#4 · A#4 |
Tap a key or a fret to hear it.
Anatomy
G# Dominant seventh (G#7) contains the notes G# · B# · D# · F#, each with a role measured as an interval from the root.
Read on: how triads are built · seventh chords
Inversions
An inversion of G# Dominant seventh puts a chord tone other than G# in the bass; the name after the slash is that bass note.
Where it lives
The keys and the scales G# Dominant seventh belongs to.
In which keys
G# Dominant seventh is diatonic to 3 keys; the numeral is its degree and the label its harmonic function.
Scales that contain it
G# Dominant seventh fits inside these scales, each built on G#.
- G# MixolydianG# · A# · B# · C# · D# · E# · F#
- G# Phrygian DominantG# · A · B# · C# · D# · E · F#
- G# Mixolydian PentatonicG# · B# · C# · D# · F#
- G# Mixolydian b6G# · A# · B# · C# · D# · E · F#
- G# Spanish HeptatonicG# · A · B · B# · C# · D# · E · F#
- G# Bebop MinorG# · A# · B · B# · C# · D# · E# · F#
- G# Composite BluesG# · A# · B · B# · C# · D · D# · E# · F#
Understanding the G# Dominant seventh chord
Names and symbols
G#7 is the chord symbol for G# Dominant seventh; it is also written G#dom.
G# Dominant seventh and Ab Dominant seventh are the same sound spelled two ways; both have a page here, and each links to the other. Ab Dominant seventh
How it is built
On G# it is G# · B# · D# · F#, stacking 1P · 3M · 5P · 7m. The major triad supplies stability and the minor seventh supplies tension.
Inside it, the third and the seventh are a tritone apart. That tritone is the entire engine: the third wants to rise a semitone and the seventh to fall a semitone, and where they land defines the key.
How it is used
As the V7 of a key it is the strongest possible signal of where home is. As the I7 and IV7 of a blues it loses that obligation entirely and simply becomes the sound — twelve-bar blues is built from dominant sevenths that never resolve conventionally.
Because its tritone is shared with the dominant seventh a tritone away, G#7 can be substituted for that chord and still resolve convincingly. That is tritone substitution, and it is how a chromatic bass line gets built.
Learn this properly
Chapter 10: Chords: Triads and SeventhsCommon questions
- What notes are in G#7?
- G#7 contains G# · B# · D# · F#. Name any set of notes with the chord identifier.
- Why does a dominant seventh want to resolve?
- Its third and seventh form a tritone. The third rises and the seventh falls by a semitone each, closing onto the tonic chord.
- What is tritone substitution?
- Replacing a dominant seventh with the one a tritone away. Both contain the same tritone, so both resolve to the same place — but the substitute moves the bass down a semitone instead of a fifth.
- What notes are in the G# Dominant seventh chord?
- The G# Dominant seventh chord contains the notes G# · B# · D# · F#: the root G# with the intervals 1P, 3M, 5P, 7m stacked above it. Play them together for the chord or one after another for an arpeggio. The lowest note is normally G#, but any chord tone can take the bass in an inversion.
- What intervals make up the G# Dominant seventh chord?
- Measured from G#, the G# Dominant seventh chord stacks the intervals 1P, 3M, 5P, 7m. The quality of the third and of the seventh, if there is one, is what gives the chord its character; the rest of the notes colour it. Every interval in the formula links to its own page, with its sound.