Sevenths
D♭ dominant 7th chord
Bluesy tension that pulls strongly toward the chord a 5th below.
D♭7 is the V7 chord in F♯ major. In minor keys: V7 in F♯ minor.
- Notes
- D♭FA♭C♭
- Formula
- 135♭7
- Built from
- root · major 3rd · perfect 5th · minor 7th
How to play D♭7
About the D♭ dominant 7th chord
Playing it
On guitar, D♭7 has an open-position shape, x43404, using four fingers alongside the open strings. Don’t strum the low E string.
On piano, D♭7 has two black keys (D♭ and A♭) and two white keys.
On ukulele the usual D♭7 shape is 1112, using four fingers.
Related chords
Take away the root and the other three notes form Fdim (F A♭ C♭) — so you can think of D♭7 as Fdim with D♭ added underneath.
Move a single note and D♭7 becomes a different chord: drop the C♭ for D♭, raise C♭ to C for D♭maj7, lower F to F♭ for D♭m7 and lower C♭ to B♭ for D♭6.
Where you’ll hear it
You’ll find D♭7 in common progressions such as C♯7–F♯7–G♯7 (the 12-bar blues in C♯ major) and G♯m7–C♯7–F♯maj7 (the jazz cadence in F♯ major).
Notice the C♭ in D♭7 (D♭ F A♭ C♭): each note of the chord takes its own letter (D–F–A–C), so the minor 7th has to be written C♭ rather than B — the same key on a piano, spelled to fit the chord.
