Shapes of things… 7th

Marc Bolan, 1977 © Denis O'Regan/CORBIS

The chord: 7th

Used by: T Rex

Song: Jeepster

Context: A7, played as three repeated stabs after the E F# G# A intro riff. Low to high strings: X 0 2 2 2 3

Did you know?

In classical music the 7th was rarely used outside its traditional position as the dominant chord resolving to the home key chord (eg: G7 resolving to the chord of C in the key of C). Only since the birth of the blues in the early 1900s, have our ears become used to hearing dominant (7th) chords as the I, VI and V chord in a sequence.

Also spotted in:

The Beatles' Can't Buy Me Love - C7, F7 and G7 as the verse chords. Low to high strings: X 3 2 3 1 X; X 8 7 8 6 X; X 10 9 10 8

Eric Clapton's Change The World - E7 as the first chord in the intro and verses. Low to high strings: 0 2 0 1 0 0.

Buddy Holly's That'll Be The Day - E7 as the final chord of the intro. Put a capo at fret five and play the basic B7 shape which then becomes E7. Low to high strings X 2 1 2 0 2