Now that you know the major, minor, and dominant 7th chords, it is time to move on to the minor 7th chords.
Taught by David Anthony in Basic Guitar with David Anthony seriesLength: 21:16Difficulty: 2.5 of 5

David Anthony is an acoustic guitar aficionado. In this series you will learn basic concepts that are essential to playing any style of guitar music.
About David Anthony
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David Anthony was born David Anthony Volckmann, on November 9th, 1982, in the small town of Mount Hope, NY. As a child he absorbed the church flavored musical environment that his parents provided. With this influence he realized at a young age that music would not simply be a passive experience for him. It was not until the age of 15 that he decided to string up his first guitar. Relying solely on his father for his foundational chord knowledge, he quickly became enamored with the possibility of endless melodic structures, and the goal of becoming a fantastic player himself.
His early shredder influences came from Kirk Hammet of Metallica. During his first few years of guitar playing, he developed a very workable knowledge of pentatonic, major and minor scales.
Over the years his musical interests swayed from rock to standards, from jazz to classical, and a strong love of the art of flamenco guitar; Spanish finger style. It was not until the age of 18
that he decided to surround himself entirely with the music of Steve Vai and Joe Satriani. This influential exclusivity enabled him to learn more about thinking outside of the musical box. In
one year he had learned than in the prior 3 years. Picking up multiple ways to structure melodies, create chords and use different modes, his writing and improvisational abilities grew exponentially.
In his senior year of high school, he was responsible for the development of the first Musical Appreciation class in the schools history, and had aided the instructor in the teaching of those classes.
After high school, his focus started to rest mainly in writing. With this he realized that he would need additional, abstract influences to develop a unique style of writing. After a couple more
years of playing in a small band, and writing some decent material, he greeted 2004 with a move to Nashville, TN. There he found the exact influence that would change his opinion of the guitar forever.
Attempting to weed out a strong foundation in shredding and solo techniques, he began learning finger style guitar, and quickly realized the options that his door would open for him.
As he picked up more complex chord structures and jazz scales, his style became a passion for him that continues to drive him and push him to learn more. He feels strongly about the connection
between musical input and the music you write. He notes that his subconscious pool of influence, developed from the music he listens to, is almost directly responsible for the type of music that
he writes. He adamantly believes that in order to create a unique, soulful style, the pool must remain unpolluted by substandard music. What's that mean? As David puts it, "If you don't want to play
crap, don't listen to crap."
David currently teaches Jazz guitar in Fort Collins, Colorado, with plans to move back to Nashville in the spring to pursue a career in writing.
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Member Comments about this Lesson
Discussions with our instructors are just one of the many benefits of becoming a member of JamPlay.Ive had this question ever since I started watching David's lessons I just havent bothered to ask. What makes up a 7th chord whether minor or major? For instance, why is it called 7th? Is it because its the seventh note in a particular scale? Im trying to get a grip on theory and just need a little help.
I think you have it spot in. An A Major chord with an added 7th would be an A Major 7th, etc.
This lesson is about the level I'm at, but I found it a bit frustrating because it didn't explain the very points I'm stuck on - namely muting unplayed strings & getting a nice tone when strumming. I can pluck 3 note chords ... but I could anyway. What exactly is David doing (with both hands) with regard to the unplayed strings?? Does that come later?
i got the excat same question about it. have you figured it out by now ?
I believe for most of it he simply isn't playing the unplayed strings. If you wish to strum you can slightly mute them with other fingers, by laying fingers down slightly next to the string they are fretting. BUt for the most part the chord shapes he is using with unplayed strings are meant for fingerpicking so the unplayed strings simply are not played instead of just muted. There will more on things like this in the future though, this lesson is mainly to add the chords to your arsenal.
are the tips of ur fingers suppose to hurt a little?
yep! i wouldn't recommend playing for more than an hour at a time if youre a complete beginner
The last thing you do in this lesson is very cool! In the final thoughts, are you improvising or maybe you have a tab for this :)