Dominant 7th chords are often used in blues and rock music, but it’s a chord that not many people will be familiar with. Below I’ve mapped out the notes of the A Major triad which results in the familiar CAGED pattern. Then I added the 0 – 10 interval, in this case G to show all the notes of the A7 chord.

Fret Formula: 0 – 4 – 7 – 10
Notes: A – C# – E – G

As you can see below this gives you several different ways to play this chord. In fact each of the 4 inversions are shown. An inversion is a way to play a chord with a note other than the root note as the lowest note. The Root position is with the A as the lowest note, the 1st inversion is with the C# as the lowest note, the 2nd inversion is with E as the lowest note and the 3rd inversion is with the G as the lowest note in the chord voicing.

More Blues and Blues Rock theory lessons check out Blues Theory Revolution