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Four notes · 1 3 5 7 · pure 8:10:12:15

The major 7th chord

A major 7th chord is a major chord with a major seventh on top, a semitone below the octave. It sounds soft, warm and a little dreamy: more colour than tension.

How it's built

Stack a major third, a minor third and another major third: C, E, G and B. The seventh is 11 semitones above the root. Hidden inside are two chords, C major at the bottom and E minor at the top.

Singing it in tune

Tuned pure, it's 8:10:12:15. The third sits 13.7 cents (a cent is a hundredth of a semitone) below the piano's, the fifth 2.0 above, and the seventh, 15:8, 11.7 below. The seventh is a pure major third above the fifth and a pure fifth above the third, which is why it can sit so calmly in the chord.

In a melody, many singers push a leading note (the seventh note of the scale) up toward the root. Held in a major 7th chord it wants the opposite, a touch lower than the piano, which makes the semitone up to the root a wide 16:15, 111.7 cents.

Where you hear it

On the home chord and the fourth chord of a major key, in jazz, bossa nova, soul and soft pop: Cmaj7 and Fmaj7 in C. In a jazz ii-V-I it's where the progression lands: Dm7, G7, Cmaj7. In older classical harmony the major seventh is a dissonance, and it usually resolves down by step.

More chord types

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Stackapella recording the alto part of Amazing Grace: each note is a bar with its name, and the one being sung says A little low, go up. Stackapella recording the alto part of Amazing Grace: each note is a bar with its name, and the one being sung says A little low, go up. Stackapella recording the alto part of Amazing Grace: each note is a bar with its name, and the one being sung says A little low, go up. Stackapella recording the alto part of Amazing Grace: each note is a bar with its name, and the one being sung says A little low, go up.
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Questions

What is the difference between a major 7th and a dominant 7th chord?

The seventh. A major 7th chord has the major seventh, 11 semitones up (B over C), and a dominant 7th has the minor seventh, 10 up (B♭). The major 7th can rest; the dominant 7th wants to move.

Why is it written maj7 and not just 7?

Because a plain 7 means the dominant 7th: C7 is C, E, G and B♭. Cmaj7, CM7 and CΔ7 all mean C, E, G and B.

How should a choir tune a major 7th chord?

With the seventh and the third both a touch low: the pure seventh, 15:8, is 11.7 cents below the piano's, and the pure third 13.7 cents below. Tune the root and fifth first, then the third, then the seventh against them.

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Ready to tell them apart by ear? Try chord ear trainingChord ear training · Major, minor or seventh: which?