How to Build D7 Chords on the Guitar

Chord building is a great practice for guitar beginners to see what notes go into a chord. Some chords are easier than others. A seventh chord has a little different sound and construction than its major and minor counterparts. Here's how to build the most common form of D7 on the guitar using an "open string" approach.

Instructions

Difficulty: Challenging

1. Lay out your chromatic scale (on paper or in your head). For the key of D, it's going to be D-E-F#-G-A-B-C#-D. You'll be using some of these notes to build your D7. In the D7 chord, we'll use a first scale note (D), a third, F#, a fifth, A, and a flat seventh, C.
2. Put your middle finger on the second fret of the G string (fourth string from the bottom) to create an A note, your fifth scale note.
3. Add your index finger to the first fret of the next string toward the top, the B string (second string from top). Here you're adding your flattened seventh, the seventh note of the scale is C#, so taking it down one half step, you get C.
4. Get your ring finger onto the second fret of the high E string. You're adding an F#, which is your regular third scale note.
5. Leave the rest of the strings open. The open D string is your first scale note. The open A string is your fifth again. The open E string actually isn't part of the chord, so it's not a great idea to strum it when you're playing the chord, but you can if you want to. For a clearer sound, just strum the top four strings.

Tips & Warnings

• To hear how the sound changes between D major and D7, play both chords back to back. You can hear the change between the D major and the different seventh sound, which you can use as part of a chord transition. For example, in strumming D-D-D-D7-A, or lots of other chord combinations.