I'm surprised these are the two 7 chords that students tend to confuse. To me, the dominant 7 chord is very distinctive. It has this unresolved quality and every time I hear it by itself I automatically hear the chord that it wants to resolve to. A bit of functional harmony theory: Consider the notes of a major scale as numbers, with the root as I, the second note as II, etc. The V chord (chord with the 5th scale degree as the root) will be a dominant 7. That chord will want to resolve to the tonic (chord with the 1st scale degree as the root). For example G dominant 7 resolves to C major. That transition has a very pleasant and expected sound quality. Play those two chords and memorise that sound and you should always be able to recognise the dominant 7 chord sound.
In this case we only have two 7 chords. When you add more it becomes more difficult to hear which one is being played. Then when you include all keys and all inversions and all voicings it becomes way more difficult.
I don't have a big problem hearing them -- dom 7 is "barbershop" and maj 7 is "lounge" (very broadly speaking.) WHere I get in trouble is when you tell me "give me a 7." 3/4 of the time I'm going to give you a maj 7. That's not a hearing thing, that's a "not thinking" thing, or even more simply - an overshoot -- went too far.
I'm surprised these are the two 7 chords that students tend to confuse. To me, the dominant 7 chord is very distinctive. It has this unresolved quality and every time I hear it by itself I automatically hear the chord that it wants to resolve to.
A bit of functional harmony theory: Consider the notes of a major scale as numbers, with the root as I, the second note as II, etc. The V chord (chord with the 5th scale degree as the root) will be a dominant 7. That chord will want to resolve to the tonic (chord with the 1st scale degree as the root). For example G dominant 7 resolves to C major. That transition has a very pleasant and expected sound quality. Play those two chords and memorise that sound and you should always be able to recognise the dominant 7 chord sound.
The problem is that everyone has a different experience when trying to recognize chords and scales.
Fortunately, that's one I have. Chords are not my strong point.
In this case we only have two 7 chords. When you add more it becomes more difficult to hear which one is being played. Then when you include all keys and all inversions and all voicings it becomes way more difficult.
I don't have a big problem hearing them -- dom 7 is "barbershop" and maj 7 is "lounge" (very broadly speaking.) WHere I get in trouble is when you tell me "give me a 7." 3/4 of the time I'm going to give you a maj 7. That's not a hearing thing, that's a "not thinking" thing, or even more simply - an overshoot -- went too far.
The difficulty increases with more chords and all inversions with all voicings.