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In praise of the major seventh

  • February 24, 2021
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First, let’s hear some major sevenths …

The major seventh is my friend, often coming to my rescue to add a little magic to an otherwise mundane composition.

The major seventh is a lush chord, commonly found in jazz and jazz-influenced popular music but popping up just about everywhere. Strangely, The Beatles very rarely used major sevenths, whereas Paul Simon uses them all the time – just listen to the start of Old Friends …

Simon and Garfunkel – Old Friends / Bookends

My short sketch above repeats these chords: Cmaj7 Fmaj7 Em7 Fmaj7. In fact, you’ll often find minor sevenths (the Em7 here) mixed with major sevenths.

The chord is made up of the 1st, 3rd, 5th and 7th notes of a major scale, so Cmaj7 has C, E, G and B notes. The dissonance between the C and the B is what makes the chord sound so lush, but make sure you keep the 1st and the 7th notes apart.

Here are some very easy examples of major seventh chords in the first position of the guitar.

Here is a Cmaj7 on a piano keyboard …

If you use lots of major sevenths in the same composition, you’ll find yourself in jazz or soul territory. Used more sparingly, the occasional major seventh will add some interest and may suggest a more appealing melody.

There’s a current surge of popularity in major (and minor) sevenths. In The Billboard top 5 as at April 2021 you’ll find Peaches by Justin Bieber and Daniel Caesar (chord progression Fmaj7 Em7 Dm7 Cmaj7) and Leave The Door Open by Silk Sonic which oozes major sevenths (main progression Fmaj7 G7 Em7 Am7).

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