What is the name of a seventh chord built on the dominant with a minor seventh above the root?

• A. Minor Seventh Chord
• B. Diminished Seventh Chord
• C. Major Seventh Chord
• D. Dominant Seventh Chord

Answer: (D)

Building seventh chords on the dominant with a minor seventh above the root yields the dominant seventh chord. In a major key, the dominant is the fifth scale degree, and this chord combines a major triad on that degree with a seventh that is a minor seventh above the root. The result is a strong, leading-to-tonic sound. For example, in C major the dominant is G. The G major triad is G–B–D, and the seventh above G is F, giving G–B–D–F. This combination—the major triad plus a minor seventh—defines the dominant seventh chord. Other seventh chords use different seventh intervals, so they don’t match this exact structure.