Chords II: Into the 4-Note Chord Universe

The short answer: once the essential chords are comfortable, the interesting colors live one note deeper. Gitori's Chords II course explores the 4-note chord umbrella — the seventh-chord family and its variations — the vocabulary that separates strummed campfire changes from the voicings you hear in jazz, soul, gospel, and R&B.

What a fourth note buys you

Three-note chords establish major or minor — the mood. The fourth note adds direction and flavor:

• Maj7 (1-3-5-7) — lush, settled, bossa-nova-at-sunset.
• min7 (1-♭3-5-♭7) — smooth, rounded; the default minor sound of soul and jazz.
• Dom7 (1-3-5-♭7) — tense, bluesy, pointing hard at the next chord.
• And the variations — 6th chords, m7♭5, sus-flavored sevenths, alterations — each one a one-degree edit to a formula you already know.

The theory behind why these four qualities dominate is in Seventh chords explained; how they arise naturally from harmonizing a scale is in How chords are built from scales.

What the course covers

The course works through the 4-note family variation by variation, always by formula. Because every chord is presented as degrees rather than grips, each new type costs you one fact ("min7♭5 = min7 with a flattened 5"), not another page of chord-book photographs. The Find the Chords game then drills each type in random keys and random neck zones against the clock.

Before you start

Two prerequisites: Chords I — this course assumes the essential formulas are automatic — and scale degrees, because a ♭7 you have to hunt for makes every 4-note chord a math problem. The degree courses fix that permanently.