Four-two chord

The seventh at the bottom

A seventh chord has three inversions. If the seventh is in the bass it is the third. Above the bass the root then lies as a second, and above it the third and the fifth of the chord (above the bass lie a second, a fourth and a sixth). The chord owes its German name to this second. In figured bass the numeral for it is 2, in full 4/2 or 6/4/2.

In the glossary: Seventh chord · Six-five chord · Four-three chord

The bass has to fall

The seventh is a dissonance that is resolved downwards. If it is in the bass, the path is marked out: the bass falls a step. With the dominant seventh chord this leads into the six-three chord of the tonic, that is, the first inversion with the third in the bass. The close therefore sounds soft and not concluding, rather continuing.

The leading tone B lies in an upper voice and rises to the root C. In four-part writing the four-two chord as a rule contains all four notes of the seventh chord. Nothing is doubled, because four notes fall to four voices.

A bass line from three chords

The four-two chord is a classic means of leading bass lines downwards by step. A bass that descends from the root of the dominant via its seventh to the third of the tonic joins three chords in a plain line: G – F – E in the example. The chords move along with it without the bass leaping.

Distinctions

The four-two chord differs in purpose from the added second (add2) and from the cluster. There the second is a tone colour. Here it is the result of an inversion and demands resolution. In German functional theory the four-two chord is marked with a small 7 below the function symbol. The number below the symbol gives the bass note there, that is, here the seventh.