Ab7 piano chord, Ab dominant 7th notes and fingering.

The Ab7 piano chord is Ab dominant 7th: Ab, C, Eb and Gb. It is the Ab major triad (Ab, C, Eb) with a minor seventh (Gb) added on top, ten semitones above the root. A plain 7 in a chord name, as in Ab7, always means this flat seventh, not the major seventh.

How to play Ab7 on piano

1. Find Ab on the keyboard. Ab is the middle black key of the group of three, between G and A. It is the same key as G#.
2. With your right hand, put finger 1 on Ab, finger 2 on C, finger 3 on Eb and finger 5 on Gb. Finger 1 is the thumb.
3. Press all four keys together. In root position they run from Ab3 to Gb4, a reach of 10 semitones. Play chord sounds them together and Arpeggio sounds them one by one, from the bottom up.
4. Click Left hand to see the left hand. It plays Ab2 to Gb3, one octave lower: Ab with finger 5, C with finger 3, Eb with finger 2, Gb with finger 1.
5. The cards under the keyboard hold the four positions, with Ab, C, Eb and Gb at the bottom in turn. Play and Arpeggio on a card play that position.
6. Open Note names. As written the keys read Ab, C, Eb and Gb. Sharps shows G#, C, D# and F#, and Flats shows Ab, C, Eb and Gb. This chord is written with flats, so As written and Flats match.

How Ab7 is built

Counted from the root, the formula is 0, 4, 7, 10. Stacked on each other the gaps are 4 + 3 + 3: a major third, a minor third and another minor third. The third (C) and the seventh (Gb) are 6 semitones apart, which is a tritone, the most tense interval in the chord. That pair is what makes the chord lean toward a resolution.

Worked example: the pitch of Ab3. On a piano tuned to A4 = 440 Hz, a note 13 semitones below A4 has the frequency 440 × 2^(-13/12), which is about 207.65 Hz. C4 is 9 semitones below A4, so 440 × 2^(-9/12) gives about 261.63 Hz.

Ab7 and G#7 are the same chord on the keyboard: the same four keys sound for both. Written as G#7 it reads G#, B#, D# and F#. The key of Ab major has 4 flats, while the key of G# major would need double accidentals.

What the keys look like under your hand

The white keys beside Ab are G on the left and A on the right, a semitone each way. Three of the four notes are black keys (Ab, Eb and Gb) and one is a white key (C). Your thumb lands on Ab, a black key with G and A beside it. Keep the thumb relaxed and slightly curved, and let the wrist stay level instead of twisting to reach. Your little finger plays Gb, a black key with F and G beside it. The little finger is short, so let the hand lean a little toward its edge and aim for the middle of the key. Finger 3 presses Eb, a black key between D and E. The middle fingers are the longest, so they reach black keys most easily.

Ab7 inversions and fingering

Ab7 has four positions. In root position Ab is at the bottom. In the first inversion, C is at the bottom and the chord is written Ab7/C. In the second inversion, Eb is at the bottom and the chord is written Ab7/Eb. In the third inversion, Gb is at the bottom and the chord is written Ab7/Gb. The tightest reach, 8 semitones from the lowest key to the highest, is the first inversion. The widest, at 10, is the root position.

The keys that hold Ab7

Ab7 fits two of the major and natural minor keys that have a standard key signature, which means every note of it comes from that key's scale. The simplest is Db major, with 5 flats, where it is chord V7.

Progressions that use Ab7, with the chord numbers and the chords in that key:

• Db major: Imaj7-IVmaj7-V7-Imaj7, which is Dbmaj7, Gbmaj7, Ab7, Dbmaj7, the three-chord cadence of folk, rock and blues.
• Bb minor: i7-VII7-VImaj7-VII7, which is Bbm7, Ab7, Gbmaj7, Ab7, a rocking figure between VII and VI.
• Db major: vi7-IVmaj7-Imaj7-V7, which is Bbm7, Gbmaj7, Dbmaj7, Ab7, the four-chord loop started from the vi chord.

Blues: a 12-bar blues in Ab is built on Ab7, Db7 and Eb7.

Here is a worked example in Db major. The chord before Ab7 in the first progression above is Gbmaj7 (Gb, Bb, Db and F). From Gbmaj7 in root position, the closest way to reach Ab7 is its third inversion (Gb, Ab, C and Eb, lowest note first): one note stays where it is, and the others move 5 semitones in total, counting each note against the note in the same place from the bottom.

Look at the top three notes of Ab7: C, Eb and Gb make a C diminished chord (C, Eb and Gb). A dominant 7th is a diminished triad with the root added underneath.

What Ab7 sounds like

The dominant 7th is restless. Its tritone between C and Gb pulls toward a resolution, and the chord most naturally moves to Db, a fifth below Ab. It is the sound of the blues too, where every chord can be a dominant 7th.

Here Ab7 is the V7 chord in Db major and the VII7 chord in Bb minor. In a 12-bar blues in Ab the three chords are Ab7, Db7 and Eb7.

A common mistake with Ab7

A common mistake is pressing G instead of Gb on top, one semitone higher than the seventh of Ab7. That gives Abmaj7 (Ab, C, Eb and G), which sounds soft where Ab7 sounds restless. Check the top note: it should be the lower of the two keys.

Chords to learn next

Chords close to Ab7: Ab major (the same chord without the seventh; shares Ab, C and Eb); Abmaj7 (a major seventh instead; shares Ab, C and Eb); Abm7, listed as G#m7 (a minor third instead; shares Ab, Eb and Gb); Db major (the chord it leads to; shares Ab).

Once Ab7 feels easy, play it and then Db major to hear the chord resolve. For chords beyond these six types, and for guitar and ukulele shapes, use the chord finder. To play along with your computer keys, open the virtual piano. The piano chords page lists all 72 chords.