What is an altered chord?

1. What is an altered 7th chord?
2. What are altered chords used for?
3. How do you make an altered chord?
4. How do you fix a altered dominant chord?

What is an altered 7th chord?

An altered seventh chord is a seventh chord with one, or all, of its factors raised or lowered by a semitone (altered), for example, the augmented seventh chord (7+ or 7+5) featuring a raised fifth (C⁷⁺⁵: C–E–G♯–B♭). The factors most likely to be altered are the fifth, then the ninth, then the thirteenth.

What are altered chords used for?

Altered chords are best used to either pull progressions momentarily out of a strong sense of key, or to provide interesting colour to an otherwise mundane progression. Here's an example of an altered chord that achieves the first circumstance: pulling the progression away from a key.

How do you make an altered chord?

An altered chord is when you change one or more of the notes in a diatonic chord (a chord taken from a diatonic scale, as shown above) by either raising it or lowering it a semitone. If we're in C major like the scales above, a dominant chord (which would be G major) would use the notes G – B – D.

How do you fix a altered dominant chord?

Altered dominant chords feature either an augmented or diminished fifth. Augmented fifths are indicated in analysis by “+” beside the Roman numeral. Diminished fifths are indicated by a “o” beside the Roman numeral. Typically, raised fifths resolve upward by step, while lowered fifths resolve downward by step.