No, secondary dominants aren’t required to be seventh chords. 

Do secondary dominants have to be seventh chords?

A secondary dominant (also applied dominant, artificial dominant, or borrowed dominant) is a major triad or dominant seventh chord built and set to resolve to a scale degree other than the tonic, with the dominant of the dominant (written as V/V or V of V) being the most frequently encountered.

How do you tell if a chord is a secondary dominant?

Determine the note that would be a perfect 5th below the root of the chord you are analyzing. If this note would be the root of a diatonic chord, the chord you are analyzing is a secondary dominant.

Can secondary dominant be a minor chord?

Secondary dominants can resolve to any chord, regardless of the type of the next chord. The term “Secondary dominant” refers to a major-minor seventh chord set to resolve to a degree that is not the tonic.
 

What is a secondary dominant 7th chord?

A secondary dominant is when a dominant 7th chord acts as a V chord of a diatonic chord other than the tonic. We call this “tonicization.” This means the chord the secondary dominant precedes now sounds like a new tonic to the listener.

Are all 7th chords dominant?

There are five main types of seventh chords, namely: major, minor, dominant, diminished, and half-diminished seventh chords. In this article, we focus on dominant and diminished seventh chords.

Do secondary dominants have to resolve?

The roots of secondary dominants do not always resolve down a perfect fifth to the tonicized chord. In many of the examples of popular music with secondary dominants at the beginning of this chapter, the secondary dominants resolve deceptively.

How do you explain secondary dominants?

DEFINITION: A secondary dominant is an altered chord having a dominant or leading tone relationship to a chord in the key other than the tonic. An altered chord is a chord containing at least one tone that is foreign to the key. Using secondary dominants results in the tonicization of the chord of resolution.

Are secondary dominants always major?

No, secondary dominants aren’t required to be seventh chords. They can be plain triads (e.g. V/vi). They also aren’t required to be major or have a major triad–I’ve heard plenty of vii°7/V chords, and those are diminished 7th chords.
 

Where do you put a secondary dominant?

Secondary Dominant Seventh Chords

How are secondary dominants written?

In terms of nomenclature, it is customary to use the notation V7/V7 or V7/V to highlight that it is a secondary dominant for another dominant (of the fifth degree). If you were, for example, a secondary dominant preparing for the fourth degree, we would write V7/ IV.

How do secondary dominant chords work?

A secondary dominant is an altered chord having a dominant or leading tone relationship to a chord in the key other than the tonic. An altered chord is a chord containing at least one tone that is foreign to the key. Using secondary dominants results in the tonicization of the chord of resolution.

How are secondary dominants formed?

Writing Secondary Dominants

1. Find the the root of the chord after the secondary dominant (the Roman numeral under the slash). It is a major or minor triad.
2. Find the pitch a P5 above the root.
3. Build a dominant seventh chord or major triad on this pitch.
4. Resolve the chordal 7th (down) and the secondary leading-tone (up).