Very true. I guess part of what I’m saying is that many people assume “major” unless you say otherwise. It’s the “default.” Lazy, perhaps, on the part of both speaker and listener, but it’s the way it usually works, at least in popular music (in the classical music world, people are usually more careful to add the word “Major.”)
Sure, if you just say “key of C” that does mean major. It’s just that I don’t really think of something like “seven” in terms of semi-tones (and don’t really see the utility of doing so), but rather scale tones. What the seven is depends on the scale being used, not a fixed interval relation to the tonic, whereas a minor seventh or a major seventh is the same (ten or eleven semi-tones, respectively) no matter the scale. I guess what I’m saying is the “standard” seven is simply the seventh note (or chord based on the seventh note) of the key you are in.
Of course, most of the above discussion about what a ‘seven’ chord is applies more to classical than to Rock (and whatever else you want to call popular music descended from/strongly influenced by Blues) and Blues.
In Rock and Roll, in songs nominally in a major key, the true VII is exceedingly rare, but the bVII is ubiquitous. [blah blah Mixolydian mode blah]. If I’m playing rock and roll and hear someone tell me to play the ‘seven’ chord (without any more detail), I’ll play the flat-VII major (i.e. if the song is in what’s called “C major”*, I’d play B-flat major)
- blah blah Mixolydian blah
As long as your definition of “rock ‘n’ roll” includes ballads (and it certainly should), I would disagree. There are loads of rock ballads that use major 7th chords.
I could make a substantial list of them if I had the time, but a few off the top of my head that come immediately to mind from my own repertoire are:
Didn’t Want to Have to Do It – The Lovin’ Spoonful
Caroline, No – Brian Wilson/The Beach Boys
Backstreet Girl – The Rolling Stones
Elusive Butterfly – Bob Lind
Rocker with a prominent maj7th chord:
There’s a Place – The Beatles
Arrgh! If I’m not mistaken, you’re mixing them up again. The VII chord in a major key would be like if a song is in C, and there’s a B major chord in it. The “major 7th chord” means a single chord has the twelfth semitone added to the triad – like, C-E-G-B played all at once.
I’m not sure which of these your examples exemplify. Actually, I know that “Backstreet Girl” and “There’s a Place” have major 7ths. So, I’m pretty sure that’s what you’re referring to.
For major 7th chords, you need look no further than “Stairway to Heaven.” It’s basically in A minor, and it has wistful F-major-7th chords all over the place.
As Quercus said, VII chords in a major-key song are very rare, especially in popular music.
Here are the chords to “There’s a Place” (scroll a little bit down). It’s in E major (with a short modulated section in the middle), and there are no D major chords (VII, in other words “seven”).
But there is certainly a juicy Major 7th chord – “and it’s my MIND…,” and also:
You’re conflating two concepts again. When Quercus is talking about VII chords, he means the chord based on the seventh tone of the scale, not a “7th chord.”
So, in the rocking key of E, the VII chord would be D# major. The bVII chord would be D. You would see D a lot in rock. You would not see D# a lot in rock.
That said, in classical theory, the chord based on the 7th note of the scale would really be a D#dim or D#7b5 (half diminished D# chord), and not a D# major. You would almost never see a D# major in a key of E piece, but you may very well see a D#7b5 resolve to an E major.
It’s also worth noting that in the Nashville Number System, the chord would also be notated with a flat as a “b7”, So the Nashville chart for the last four chords in the OP’s example would be 4-b7-4-1.
I’ve never heard anyone call the flat-seven chord simply a “seven” chord when talking progressions. If I heard someone mention it in the context of a major key, I would be a little confused and ask for clarification. That said, usually we just called the chords out.
As pulykamell pointed out, I should have said “…there are no D-sharp major chords…”
(John does play D# note on the harmonica, but that’s not a chord).
And, actually, to further complicate things and if you want to be complete, in a minor key, if you, say, see a VII chord notated, that means B-flat (as I mentioned above). However, if you see vii° (seven diminished), that is actually a B diminished chord, which is what you would see more often in classical music. It can be a little messy when you get to the minors.
I remember learning how to play a (particular type of) minor scale with certain notes if you’re going UP the scale, but different ones if you’re going DOWN. Now that’s messed up! 
Yeah, that’s melodic minor ascending and descending. It’s a rough approximation of what often happens. It’s not like composers stick religiously to it–it really depends on what the harmony underneath is.
Basically, what you have in minor keys is this:
Your relative minor or aeolian mode has a b3, b6, and b7. So, in the key of A (the relative minor of C), the notes are:
A B C D E F G
This is the same as the aeolian mode.
Now, when it comes to harmony, the V chord in minor keys usually stays major, so you have a strong V7-i resolution. Therefore, the harmonic minor has the seventh raised, so the V chord becomes major. Thus, you only have a b3 and a b6 in the scale (as compared with the major scale):
A B C D E F G#
Now, where melodic minor ascending comes from, as far as I remember, is that F-to-G# interval of an augmented second was a bit jarring to some composers. Rather than attempt to explain it, I googled around to see if anyone has a better explanation that I could come up with, and the second post here is pretty thorough.
Thanks.
Late to the party, but…
I would call the cord in question a VIIb (seven-flat), notated that way.
I’ve never seen a bVII.
Learn something new every day.
Well a problem with notating it as VIIb, at least with the letter “b” as opposed to the flat symbol, is that sometimes chord inversions are notated with a “b” or “c” after the Roman numeral. (That said, I have occasionally seen the chord you are talking about notated your way.)
Just want to add, it would be very unusual for someone to say “hey, play a VII chord”. It’s true that in the strictest terms a VII in the key of C would mean B major, but it’s more likely that it would be analyzed another way depending on context. For example if the next chord was Em, it would be a V/iii. If the next chord was a C it could also be considered a V/iii in some cases but with a deceptive cadence as if the C was a vi of E minor, OR if the B major chord landed on a strong beat where you expected C major, and then resolved to C major immediately after, I’d probably consider it one big suspension.
In jazz, a half dim chord is almost always considered a ii in a minor key.
It’s important to realize though that all of this functional analysis is very limited in usefulness when talking about rock and most popular music. Most of this music isn’t strictly tonal (or often even remotely so). Generally musicians use what they need of it for communication purposes among each other. Beyond that the details aren’t really important.
My recollection is while there is a vii chord, it’s one to be avoided. Sort of like a scale with a key signature of 7 sharps or flats.
It’s not a super common chord, but the vii° will sometimes stand in for the V7 in a V-I type of cadence. The reason it works is because in a V7-I, your two tension notes that pull you to the C chord are the B and F, both found in the vii° chord. (Incidentally, those two notes are also found in the bII7 chord, which is a common tritone substitution for the V7.)
Listen. No one will ever be able to convince me that B# = C. B# approaches C, but never actually reaches it. A sharp note can never be a natural note. I mean otherwise you would have to deal with absurdities like A##.