Chapter 18: Diatonic 7th Chords on the E-String. 4 New Shapes to Unlock 84 Advanced Chords.

You’ve mastered the basic chords. You can build progressions that sound great. Now, it's time to add the "supercharger."

7th chords are a fantastic way to add emotional depth, complexity, and a really professional sound to your music. This isn't about learning a ton of brand-new chords; it's about upgrading the ones you already know to give them more flavor.

You're about to learn four simple, moveable shapes. With just these four, you can transform every chord in the key of C into its more sophisticated 7th chord version, all on the E-string. The payoff here is huge. Once you get these four shapes down, you'll have the system to play 84 advanced chords across all 12 keys.

4 Chord Shapes → 7 Diatonic 7th Chords × 12 Keys = 84 Advanced Chords

Let's get started.

The System: Four New Shapes for the E-String

Here are the new tools we're adding to your toolkit. Each one has a ton of personality.

• The Major 7 Shape: This is your go-to for "jazzy," "sophisticated," and "dreamy" sounds.
• The Dominant 7 Shape: This is the ultimate "tension" chord. It creates a powerful pull that just wants to be resolved.
• The Minor 7 Shape: Your "cool," "soulful," or "introspective" chord.
• The Half-Diminished 7 Shape: A "high-tension," "unstable" chord for creating maximum drama.

The system is just as simple as before: Find the root note of the chord you want to play on the E-string, and then just apply the correct new shape. That's it.

Putting the System to Work: Building C Major 7th Chords

You know the diatonic pattern. Now we're just going to upgrade it with these new flavors.

The pattern for 7th chords is: Major 7, minor 7, minor 7, Major 7, Dominant 7, minor 7, half-diminished 7.

This is our new sequence to remember. Let's find them on the neck.

The Major 7s (Imaj7, IVmaj7): Cmaj7, Fmaj7

Find C (8th fret) and F (1st fret) color-coded in red on the E-string.

Apply The Major 7 Shape to each one.

You've just built the sophisticated major 7th chords in the key.

The Dominant 7 (V7): G7