D Dominant 7th Guitar Chord Lesson

Let’s learn how to play the D Dominant 7th Guitar Chord shall we?  This chord is often referred to as a “Blues” Chord.  When you first play it, you will quickly understand why. It’s a wonderful sounding chord and definitely one you should add to your chord library.   This lesson will teach you several advanced voicings of this chord.  Follow this link for an easy version of the D7 guitar chord.

If you would like to learn how to play this chord right now, you can scroll down to the chord charts below.  If you would like to learn a bit of theory behind this chord first, then read on.

This chord is formed from the D Major Scale: D E F# G A B C#.  As you can see, there are 7 notes found in this scale.  In order to find the notes that make up the D Dominant 7 Chord, we need to use the following formula: 1, 3, 5, b7.   This means that we take the 1st, 3rd, 5th and b7 steps of the D Major Scale above, or the notes: D, F#, A and C.   The “b7” symbol means that we take the 7th step of this scale (C#) and we flatten it by 1/2 step giving us our “C” note.

The notes of the D7 Chord again are: D  F# A C.

Here is a key that will help you read the chart:

Everything on the above chart should be self explanatory, except for the last three in the third column. They may need a bit of explaining. The O, or open symbol, simply means that you do not press down on any notes on that string. The X means you do not strum that particular string. The Barre symbol means you need to barre that particular fret. When you barre a fret you are pressing down on multiple strings at the same time with one finger.

This second D7 chord is technically a chord inversion because the D note is no longer the bass note or lowest pitch. The A note now becomes the bass note.  It is still referred to as a D7 chord though.  If you play it, you will notice it sounds just like the D7 chord.

Chord Playing Tip: Be sure that you are pressing down on the string hard enough. You should play each string one at a time to make sure you have a nice clean sound. If any of the strings buzz or sound muted, then something is not right.

D7 Guitar Chord Video

The video below will demonstrate how to play the D7 Barre Chord on both the 5th and 10th frets.  Thanks to the folks over at Howcast.com for sharing this video.