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Herbie, Emmitt's got it right.

The most common extended chord is the seventh chord. In C, you'll play: C F G7 The seventh chord that we all know and love ( C7 D7 E7 Ab7...you name it) is built by putting the root on "sol." "Sol" is the five of "Do." Do re mi fa sol...1 2 3 4 5. C D E F G.

When you build a seven chord on C in the key of C, you get C E G B...a Cmajor7. When you Build it on D in the key of C, you get D F A C...a Dminor7. When you Build it on E in the key of C, you get E G B D ...an Eminor7. When you Build it on F in the key of C, you get F A C E (ha ha, it spells face ), an Fmajor7. For dramatic purposes I'll skip G here. When you build it on A in the key of C, you get A C E G, an Aminor7. When you build it on B in the key of C, you get B D F A, a B half diminished seven (also known as a B minor seven flat five). Then...drum roll...no wait we're not into rhythm yet...then....when you build a seven chord on G, in the key of C, you get....suspense....G B D F...and THAT'S RIGHT, IT'S THE GRAND PRIZE WINNER!!! The G7.

The full name of the G7 is the G dominant seven. That's because they name the fifth tone of a major scale the "dominant," mostly because it is so dominant in the scale (how many songs just have a C and a G7? Plenty!) But the G dominant seven is so common we just call it the G7.

Just to fill out the card: the A7 is built on the fifth tone in the key of D; the Bb7 is built on the fifth tone in the key of Eb; the B7 is built on the fifth tone in the key of E; The C7 is built on the fifth tone in the key of F; the C#7 is built on the fifth tone in the key of F#; The D7 is built on the fifth tone in the key of G...and so on.

So if you're passing by a G7 chord. Stop. Give it some propers...give it some respect...remember, it's really a dominant chord in the key of C...it's the ONLY dominant seven in the key of C, the other chords are major, some are minor, and the chord built on the seven...on the B...is diminished.

Hope that helps clear it up.

Emmitt, yes, it's all about what came before and what comes after, except in the "One Chord Song" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMRMWpXEysI Which, for some reason, has other chords.