A7 Chord

[Sherry Cadenhead]

I seem to be playing a lot of tunes lately with A7 chords played just before or after G, D and Bm chords. I can't seem to hit A7 (5th and 6th frets) cleanly without looking. Is it just a matter of practicing this or does someone have other advice?

[Jim Broyles]

What grip are you using for the A7?
I like to play x545 for an A7, depending on where I'm going. You could play 0245, putting the 7th on the bottom, which may work for you. Otherwise, just practice moving to the A7 you're using now and you'll pick up more fluidity. Be st of luck to you.

[DavidKOS]

I seem to be playing a lot of tunes lately with A7 chords played just before or after G, D and Bm chords. I can't seem to hit A7 (5th and 6th frets) cleanly without looking. Is it just a matter of practicing this or does someone have other advice?

Yes, pretty much practice - and making sure your fretting hand is in proper position and you are using good fingering.

You may also want to learn other shapes for A7, as some may work better than others depending on which chord shapes you are playing before and after the A7.

[John Kelly]

Another variation would be 0-2-0-3, Sherry, giving you the notes A-E-A-G, and only 2 strings to fret!

[Martin Jonas]

Most of the time, the shape I'm using for A7 is 2-2-4-3. This is the standard A chord (2-2-4) with an added G on the E-string. As it's a closed chord shape, it has the advantage that you can move it anywhere you want on the fretboard. Hence, C7 is 5-5-7-6 and B7 is 4-4-6-5. I'm trying to do as much as possible with closed chord shapes as it drastically cuts down on the number of chords you have to learn by heart.

Martin

[Teak]

My favorite A7 chord is, from lowest (G) to highest (E): 657x using middle finger, pointer finger, and ring finger in that order. That pattern moves easily up and down the neck on the bottom three pairs of strings.

The high E can be eliminated since it doesn't really support vocals given its high pitch. The notes in the 3-note chord are: C#, G, and A. Works for me most of the time. Sometimes I use a bar across fret 2 and fingering the G and C# (on the A string), like this: 254x (A G C#). That shape also moves well once you get used to it.

https://www.mandolincafe.com/cgi-bin...ch.pl?chord=A7

[Sherry Cadenhead]

Thanks, all. I like 2 finger chords, which I should have mentioned above that I use. I can make a four finger A chord, for example, but when I'm at the jam, I'm too slow with the extra fingers, so I end up using the 2 finger version instead. My teacher is a professional violinist and I have learned a lot from her, but she can't help me with some of what I need to know. I've taken lessons recently from Gerald Jones (Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Bluegrass Band). He showed me 2 chord forms to use where all you have to do is change strings or frets. I think I should find some chord exercises. In the meantime I'll try the A7 versions suggested here.

[UsuallyPickin]

Be patient with your playing. It takes repetition to establish muscle memory. Exercise your chord changes in the groups / keys they work together in . The chord forms begin to be easier to move with practice. I was a year into playing mandolin before I could move around much at all and that is with decades of experience playing guitar.

[Phil Goodson]

Which 2 finger A do you use? If you're using 2200, you might try 6700 using the middle and ring fingers. This leaves the index finger to come down on the G (6500) to form the A7. So there's no shifting or moving. Might be easier and is often convenient.
Just another option.

BTW, When I'm using the 4 finger chop A chord 9745, I often just keep the index finger stable and swing the fingers around to make 654x for a quick A7 without a root. Movable for all the treble-side chop chords.

[Mark Gunter]

I think I should find some chord exercises.

Sherry, "to each their own" and YMMV, but in my experience the best "chord exercises" are exactly what you are doing: Playing songs. Chords are, after all, harmony, so learning chords or harmony really needs context. That's why, for me, the way to get good at playing chords is to practice playing songs. All the advice you've gotten here is good advice. To put it all together, repetition is needed to become fluid and accurate with changing chords on time, and learning more than one or two shapes for chords is extremely useful. So here is one approach to creating your own "practice exercises" for playing chords.

1. Learn a song that you can sing or hum from memory, and learn the chords. Spend plenty of time practicing that tune and those chords. Try different rhythmic patterns with the song, use a metronome or backing track, and practice that song until the chords and changes become second nature. This is not a quick thing, so stick with it over time - and if you lose interest or get bored with the song, do the same with a different one.

2. Experiment finding other voicings for those chords and practice them as well.

3. When learning any new tune, the very least amount of time you should give to harmony is enough time to play a chord progression smoothly and in time. This may be slow going at first, but the chords become second nature after a while, so learning new tunes becomes much quicker and easier over the years. The more chords and chord voicings you work at over the years, the better you'll be able to harmonize even on the fly in jam or ensemble settings.

[EdHanrahan]

Thanks, all. I like 2 finger chords ...

In that case, I find this oddity to be, on occasion, surprisingly useful:
A: 0067
A7:0065

With index and ring fingers on the D string and middle finger at fret 6 of the G, it allows easy runs from the major to the 7th; also from the major to minor at 0057.

Some here have said that it sounds thin, which is true, but if you ever need to play Donovan's "Sunshine Superman" ...

[AlanN]

I find it easier to notate and read chords low strings to high strings, as follows:

A7: 6-5-0-0

ymmv

[EdHanrahan]

... easier to notate and read chords low strings to high strings, as follows:
A7: 6-5-0-0

WHOA! My mistake. That's what I get for rushing before a doctor appointment. Sorry!

[JeffD]

I can't seem to hit A7 ... cleanly without looking.

There is very little I can do cleanly without at least occasionally taking a peek.

I don't know that looking is a sin, but lets say it is; its way way down in my priority of what needs fixing.

[T.D.Nydn]

I use these alot..

[Sherry Cadenhead]

I use these alot..

This is great, TD! I'll match it with forms others have suggested. What is your resource? I presume it shows multiple chords.

[T.D.Nydn]

Sherry,I forgot the persons name where these originated from. I got them by GoogleING "mandolin 7th chords" or "mandolin 7th chord inversions",,just keep looking until you find the sheet,it has others on it,,A7,D7,G7,C7,,,there is also a minor 7 sheet just like this,and it is especially handy to know also...

[Jon Hall]

Sherry, I think the easiest three finger A7th chords, are those on two frets such as: x-5-4-5 and 12-11-12-x. These have the added benefit of being movable. The highest note of this shape is the root of the chord (i.e. A) Wherever you play this three note it will be a dominant seventh.

[ralph johansson]

My default A7 (at least in the key of D or G) is c#-g-e-* Some contexts might call for an A9: c#-g-b-* and in that case an extra e on top won't do any harm. I would not play a chord with the top strings open - hard to control; besides, I resist a fifth on top.

The forms indicated above connect very well with, say, a passing adim (lower the first form by one fret) and a D7: c-f#-d-*, or possibly D9: c-f#-e-* or D13: c-f#-b-*. It's all about context.

[Papa P]

I am new to the forum. I've been playing mandolin for about 2 years. I love music theory. I am attaching a chord list of A7's that has been very helpful to me. The site is very user friendly, contains chords for many instruments and has an extensive list of chords including inversions.

http://chordlist.brian-amberg.de/en/...ard/A7/ra.html

[Sherry Cadenhead]

As to this most recent post, I can't figure out why the chords are sectioned off like they are. For example, the first 2 chords in the "A7" section include C#, whereas the first 2 chords in the "A7/C#=A7/Db" section also include C#. Maybe I'm overthinking this???

[ralph johansson]

As to this most recent post, I can't figure out why the chords are sectioned off like they are. For example, the first 2 chords in the "A7" section include C#, whereas the first 2 chords in the "A7/C#=A7/Db" section also include C#. Maybe I'm overthinking this???

A7/C# indicates that the lowest note is a C#. Doesn't make much sense, really, as the mandolin doesn't supply the bass in an ensemble. (hence the root note is not really important in a mandolin chord, and could easily be omitted).

[Papa P]

To explain the why, I need explain the how of building an A7 (A dominate 7) chord.
The A7 chord is built from the 1-3-5-b7 of the A major scale.
The A major scale is A-B-C#-D-E-F#-G#-A
The A major triad is A-C#-E. To make the A major chord an A7,
the 7th note of the scale (G#) is flatted to G. Thus giving an
A7 of A-C#-E-G.

So, C# is in the A major chord and, normally, retained in the
fingering of the A major and A7 chord. I won't get into the exceptions.

In the examples you mentioned, the first two examples are
showing the root note A being the lowest note in the fingering of the chord.

The A7/C# (A7/Db) is the first inversion which means that the
root note is not the lowest note in the fingering. The 2nd note
of the chord, C#, is the lowest.

You will, also, see the C# in the 2nd inversion, A7/E. The 2nd
inversion has the 3rd note in the chord (E) as the lowest note in the fingering.

3rd inversion A7/G uses G as lowest note.


Root pattern has root as lowest note.
1st inversion uses 2nd note as lowest note.
2nd inversion uses 3rd note as lowest note.
3rd inversion uses 4th note.

Inversions work the same in all chords whether
Major, minor or whatever.

Simply put an inversion is an alternate way of
musically expressing a chord pattern.

Hope this helps.

[Mark Wilson]

Lots of A7 permutations. Thx for the mini lesson papa.
I like the A7 sound of 6-5-0-(0) when playing in Dm using 7-3-0-x

[Sherry Cadenhead]

Thanks for these 2 responses. In a practical sense, does this matter - when deciding which form of the chord to play?