Hey, I was wondering about the seventh chords and scales. Just regular sevenths like not Maj7 or Min7 just regular C7, B7, and so on. Well you know how there is the nashville numbering system for scales that tell you the major chords, 1 4 5 thing. And how the 6th note is always a different type of chord. Like in a major scale the 6th note is a minor chord while all the others are major chords, and in the minor scale the 6th note is a major chord and so on. Well in a 7th scale, the one that is just like a major scale but the seventh note is dropped a half step. so for example the A scale would be
E string: 5 7
A string: 4 5 7
D string: 4 5 7
played in that order from top to bottom. You would use seventh chords for all of the notes except the sixth one right? What type of chord do you use for the sixth note since wouldn't it be different like the Major and Minor scales. What type is it for the seventh? And also does this scale have special name other than just the seventh? And one more question. What genre of music do all of the basic seventh chords and this scale go to?
Thanks
James

The scale (mode) is Mixolydian.

Dominant 7th (7) chords are most often associated with blues.

Not sure about the whole Nashville thing but in say A Mixolydian

A B C# D E F# G A

The resulting chord constructions become

I = A C# E G = A7
II = B D F# A = Bm7
III = C# E G B = C#m7b5
IV = D F# A C# = Dmaj7
V = E G B D = Em7
VI = F# A C# E = F#m7
VII = G B D F# = Gmaj7

This is exactly the same as the chords in D maj, and F# min.

The VI chord becomes a m7 but you will note that the 7 chord only occurs once (as the I).

So to answer your first question: No. Constructing chords on the Mixolydian scale (The one you 'TAB') does not result in 7 chords for all but the VI.

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how did you figure all of that out?

Oh and I have another question about this Mixolydian scale. Lets say it is the B Mixolydian scale which is actually just the E Major scale. If you play the main E Major chords over the B Mixolydian scale it would be as if you were playing the E major scale. So I don't get the whole Mixolydian sound. How do you figure out the chords for it? If it is B Mixolydian without making it E Major. I just used B and E as an example. C Major and G Mixolydian as well, how do you get the G Mixolydian sound instead of the C Major sound?

By centering (focusing) on the tonic note.

Am and C major have the same notes in them but Am doesn't sound at all like C even though they have 66% of the same notes in them! Am = ACE, C=CEG. Consider Am7=ACEG and C6= CEGA
They have ALL the same notes in them!

If you can't figure out how I got what I did in my first post why not go to the library (or a music shop) and borrow (buy) an introductory book on theory?

Alternatively searching these very forums for topics like chord construction and modes may give you further food for thought.

Enjoy!

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Please excuse this super long post. I was just excited about this post because my musicianship took a quantum leap forward once someone explained this to me in a way that clicked. I'll try to do it the same way it was explained to me.

Modes sound like they are very complicated, but really they're not. You can think of the pattern of a major scale as one "diatonic" mode. If you call a major scale "mode one or "I"". Here are the chords that go with any major scale:

I: Major or major 7th chord
--go up a whole step
II: Minor or minor 7th chord
--go up a whole step
III: Minor or minor 7th chord
--go up a half step
IV: Major or major 7th chord
--go up a whole step
V: Major or 7th chord (7th is flatted, not maj 7th), aka: dominant 7th chord
--go up a whole step
VI: Minor or minor 7th chord
--go up a whole step
VII: Diminished chord or minor 7 flat 5th chord
--go up a half step
I: rinse and repeat...

Now for a specific key. Obviously in the key of C major the notes are CDEFGABC, and here are the chords that go with each note:

I: C or Cmaj7
II: Dm or Dm7
III: Em or Em7
IV: F or Fmaj7
V: G or G7
VI: Am or Am7
VII: Bdim or Bm7b5
I: etc...

So those are the notes and chords you usually play in the key of C major. For the MINOR mode, you begin and end with the VI degree of the scale. So A minor has the same notes (and chords) as C major, but it doesn't sound the same because it is a different mode. You begin and end with A instead of C. In real life you're not just playing scales, but the melody tends to resolve itself around the tonic. If your tonic is I (C in this case) your melody sounds all happy...if your tonic is VI (A in this case) your melody sounds dark and well, minor key:

VI: Am or Am7
VII: Bdim or Bm7b5
I: C or Cmaj7
II: Dm or Dm7
III: Em or Em7
IV: F or Fmaj7
V: G or G7
VI: Am or Am7 again...

If your melody revolves around the II note (D in this case) you have entered the Dorian mode. The chords go like this:

II: Dm or Dm7
III: Em or Em7
IV: F or Fmaj7
V: G or G7
VI: Am or Am7
VII: Bdim or Bm7b5
I: C or Cmaj7
II: repeat...

Of course this is the same as the one above it except it begins and ends with the second degree of a major scale. The dorian mode sounds a little like the minor, but not as dark. You hear this mode a lot in jazz over II-V-I chord progressions.

The great thing (at least I think so) is that once you learn the chord and fingering pattern for one mode, you know the pattern for all. Same chords, same notes, same fingering patterns up and down the neck, etc. If you need to change key, just move the whole pattern up or down the neck and there you go.

Each mode has a name and gives a different sound. Major and Minor are easy to hear because they are so prevalent in western music, but there are others and you can learn to hear their unique sounds. Here are the rest:

II...II = Dorian (see above)
III....III = Phrygian (kind of exotic sounding and dark)
IV....IV = Lydian (like a major scale but more 'listless')
V...V = Mixolydian (very popular mode--sounds a little bluesy)
VI...VI = Aolian (same as natural minor)
VII...VII = Ionian mode (sounds like it wants to resolve to major but 'never' does)

These are the diatonic modes. Pentatonic scales can be thought of as diatonic modes with certain notes left out (and others added in depending on where you are in the chord progression-blue notes) Then there is harmonic minor, just like natural minor but with the note right before the minor tonic raised a half step to give a dominant 7th chord in the fifth position of the minor scale instead of a minor or minor 7th. There are others, too but these are the most common.

The best thing about learning the chords that go with each scale degree, is it makes it much easier to figure out songs by ear because you know which chords are likely to come next. And it will help beginning songwriters, too. And if a chord doesn't fit this pattern, chances are there's a key change.

Hope this was useful.

wow, right at the last second I think it just clicked with me. So, modes are exactly like the major scale. They all just have different chord progressions over top of them. And they all start off with a different part of the Major scale. So if you are doing the C Major scale the second note would be a D so it would be a D Dorian which is the exact same thing as the C Major scale. And if you are doing the C Major scale still the third note of the C Major scale is an E so doing the E Phrygian would be like you were doing the C Major scale exactly. So you pretty much just need to know the major scale And the chords for each one you have.. I thought The first second third forth fifth and seventh notes were all major and the sixth was the minor. And with the minor scale it was the exact opposite. Oh and I still don't quite get that if the modes are the exact same as a major scale whats makes it sound different. Because the C Major scale has all the exact same chords as the D Dorian and as the E Phrygian and the A Aeolian etc. How do you get the Dorian and the Mixolydian and the Aeolian sound. But wow thank you for that thread I feel like I completely understand how to figure out all of the major modes now.

?

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so you don't play different chords when you want the mode to sound different? You still just play the main chords of the major scale that the mode is a part of? I think I get pretty much the basic gist of modes now though.

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Jackson(Snow White Color)-->MD-2-->DD-20-->RC-20XL-->Line 6 Spider Amp

Wants:
Traynor YCS100H w/ cabinet
Boss TU-2
Boss Fender Deluxe Reverb Pedal