Text: The nuetral chord could be an interesting one. In music, especially the blues, the Dominant chord can hold both Major and Minor tonality. The blues traditionally is built on three Dominant chords. Take any well known Chuck Berry song for an example. The three Dominant chords there would be C7 F7 G7. As a player one can choose both Major or Minor tonality to improvise over these chords. So in this sense the Dominant chord is neutral. However, the dominant chord possess four overall notes, for example, C E G Bb is the chord known as C7. It is in effect the C triad with an added flat7. A lot of composers know that one need only play the 3rd and 7th of a chord to display it's charactor. Therefore the dominant chord above can be played as E(3rd) Bb(7th). The interval between E and Bb is that of a Tri-tone and it was this realisation which opened up the door for Jazz to flourish. Jazz is built from chords containing added color. The basic Jazz chord is rarely a Triad. The 7th chords as building blocks are the basis of Jazz. Luigi Martino, 9/8/01

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