Seventh Chords on six string C6

Kirk Nelson · From: San Diego, California

My wife and I play old country and Hawaiian songs -- she plays uke and I play an old fender champ.

When she is playing a major or minor chord, I play in the same chord, but when she plays a 7, I just play the corresponding major or minor. All the 7th chords recommended by various chord finder websites sound a little weird to me. Anyway, that sounds OK, except that in lots of old country tunes, there is a switch from a chord to its seventh, and it would be cool to be able to highlight that change.

This is a long winded way of asking:

How do you play seventh chords on six string C6?

Thanks.

Tim Tweedale · From: Vancouver, B.C., Canada

Just throw a pedal on there to raise your A's to Bb's!
Wink

Seriously, though, I think the EASIEST way to get the 7th sound (if there's already an instrument playing the chords) is to go down 2 frets from the home fret on your "A" and "C" strings.

So, for example, if you're playing a C Major at the 12th fret, go down 2 frets to the 10th fret on your "A" and "C" strings. Now you're playing a "G" and "Bb" - the 5th and 7th of the C7 chord!

There are many more ways to get the sound of a 7th chord, but I would suggest try this way first and getting comfortable with it.

-Tim

Kirk Nelson · From: San Diego, California

That is great, Tim. Thanks for the reply.

Papa Joe Pollick · From: Swanton, Ohio

Like Tim said works fine. Another way that I do it for a real nice sound is pull the 6th note up to a 7th behind the bar.Kinda psg effect.Takes a little practice but you'll get it..

Kristian Meisling · From: Palo Alto, CA, USA

Kirk,

Here's some other two-note 7th chords...

(1) Raise high E to G (the 5th) and G to Bb (the b7th) gives you a two-note 7th chord that is "going to" the F position on the 5th fret.

(2) If your lap-steel is tunes G-high (E G A C E G), then you can also raise high E and high G together to 3rd fret to get the same 7th chord with b7th on top.

The above two chords exist because the minor seventh of the C chord is found three frets above the C major chord in open position. As long as you avoid the minor note (Eb -on the C string)...you can get a three-note seventh chord...but the two-note version sounds better in my opinion.

(3) If playing in C, try open high E and C and A fretted on first fret...this is the open version of Papa's "pulling behind the bar" trick...but only good for C7!

(4) If your lap-steel in in high-G tuning you can play C and E notes open and fret the top string (G) at the 3rd fret (Bb) to get another variant of C7 using open strings.

Many more complex chords on the C6 lap-steel are usually played as two- or three-note fragments (not all the notes in the chord present)...which works fine when someone else is playing the root note or chord!

You can find all possibilities by locating all the Bb notes on the steel and seeing where you can grab a C (root), E(3rd) or G (5th) to make a chord fragment.

I'd be happy to share a few 3-note C7 chords I know involving bar-slants if you are interested. Bar slants are really the way to go...opens up so many more complete chords.

Cheers,

Kris

Ray Shakeshaft · From: Kidderminster, Worcs, UK.

I found that I did not use the C on the sixth string that often so I followed Jerry Byrd and tuned it to C#. Makes life a lot easier. There are six dominant sevenths at one fret position. For example, at the open position there are six three note A7s to choose from.

Ryan Barwin · From: Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

I'd pull a string behind the bar....the second string up a half step (C>C#) for the dominant VI chord (A7), or the third string up a semitone (A>Bb) for the dominant I chord (C7)
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Stephan Miller · From: Silver Spring, Maryland, USA

Three frets up from the major chord are some options. If you're looking for a C7 sound, go to the 3rd fret and play strings 1 and 4 (G & Bb) or 5 and 4 (also G & Bb, an octave lower).

Or you can slant to get it. Say you want G7...go to the 7th fret...instead of playing a G major chord, put the nose of the bar on string 3, fret 8 (F) and at the same time play string 5, fret 7 (B)-- this is sorta like Papa Joe's idea, you're just getting at it with a forward slant instead of a string pull.

Practice these different suggestions all over the guitar in different keys. The 7th chord is called for a lot in going from the I chord to the IV chord (I7) or going from the V back to the I (V7).

Kirk Nelson · From: San Diego, California

Many thanks, fellas.

You just greatly expanded my chord vocabulary.

Mike Neer · From: NJ

There are many different ways to get dominant 7th chords in C6, but you have to realize that you're getting partial chords. The non-essential chord tones are the root and the 5th.

Also, realize that anywhere you have a minor or diminished triad, you have a 7th or 9th chord. A minor triad will give you a 9th chord a 4th above (Amin (A C E) = D9 (D F# A C E) without the root and 3rd) and every dominant 7th chord has a diminished triad in it (see F# A C in the D9 chord above). You will need to investigate slanting to get diminished triads and additional minor positions, but it is not difficult if you're willing to spend time with it.
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