You Are Reading the First 6 FREE Chapters (470 pages)
Minor 7th Chord: Does It Have a "Dominant" Function?
The dominant seventh chord (V7) assumes its “dominant seventh” powers only if it’s a major V chord with the seventh note added. However, if you add the seventh note to a minor 7th chord (such as Gm, changing it to Gm7), the minor seventh chord does not become a dominant seventh, thanks to the ♭3 note in the Gm7 chord. That ♭3 does a couple of things to sabotage the dominant seventh quality of a minor 7th chord:
- It changes 7 – 1 (8) to ♭7 – 1 (8) with respect to the tonic note, C. The leading tone disappears, removing directionality.
- It removes the tritone, making the chord much more stable-sounding.
That’s why the dominant seventh chord of a minor key is a major V chord with the seventh note added. Just like the dominant seventh chord of a major key.
If you were to hear only the single dominant seventh chord G7, without reference to any other chord (unlike the above “C – G7 – C” example), the key could be either C major or C minor, because G7 is the dominant seventh of both keys. These are called parallel keys. (More on this later in the chapter, in the discussion of various types of modulation.)