The G7 chord
Think of the G7 as a dominant chord that wants to resolve. The chord is built from G - B - D - F, a textbook dominant seventh. It does its strongest work in every blues form and most jazz tunes, where it tends to push to the IV chord in blues. The G7 fits into more keys than most writers expect. The most-used dominant in the country songbook, and Bach used it constantly too. Voicings on both instruments, theory in plain language, progressions in multiple keys and a handful of real song references are all laid out below.
Hear the G7 in the chord builder →Voicings for G7
Common ways to grip the G7 on guitar and piano. Guitar diagrams read low E to high E left-to-right; an × means muted, an open circle above the nut means an open string. Filled dots are fretted notes.
Guitar , full chord shapes
CAGED-derived voicings for G7 across the neck. Pick the shape closest to where your hand already sits.
Guitar , triad shapes
Three-note voicings on three adjacent strings. Light textures for arpeggios, pop layering and chord-melody work.
Piano voicings
Root position and inversions. The bass note matters: each inversion changes how the chord sits under a melody.
The theory behind G7
Progressions that use G7
Short progressions that put the G7 to work. Each one is shown in a different key so you can pick the one that suits your singer.
This chord appears as a borrowed or passing chord in many major-key progressions.
→ Build this in the chord builderSongs that feature G7
Real records where this chord does structural work. No lyrics quoted, just the title and artist so you can pull up a copy and hear it in context.
- Sweet Home Chicago by Robert Johnson. G7 throughout the blues form.
- Hound Dog by Elvis Presley. G7 at the top of the form.
- Honky Tonk Women by The Rolling Stones. G7 as a strong turnaround.
Related chords
Chords a step away from the G7 in the songwriting circle, the natural neighbours when you want a substitution.
Keys where G7 lives
The keys where this chord turns up diatonically. Open any key page for the full set of progressions that lean on it.
More songwriting tools
Got the chord but still wrestling with the lyric? Find the right rhyme in RhymeForge, or break a writer's block with the unexpected word-pair generator in CollisionLab. Need to map a full progression? The chord builder on the home page is where the G7 fits into context. All free, no signup.
About the chord builder
The Undercover Zest chord progression builder is a free interactive tool that maps every diatonic and borrowed chord in every key. Click a Roman numeral to hear it, drag chords into a progression, then audition voicings, inversions and tensions until the song clicks.
This page is a static reference for the G7. For interactive playback, voice-leading hints and substitution suggestions, open the chord builder above.