ArpeggiosEN

Arpeggio quality

maj7

The major seventh chord adds a major seventh to the major triad, placing a leading tone a half-step below the root. That close interval is the whole personality of the sound: glowing and wistful in ballads, cool and glassy in bossa nova, slightly aching when the melody lingers on it. The third and the seventh form a wide major-seventh span that wants to rise to the root, so the chord feels like an arrival rather than a question. It is the tonic quality of the major scale's first degree and the target of countless ii–V–I cadences. Listen for the friction between the seventh and the root when both are sounding.

Formula
1 3 5 7
Notes
C♯ E♯ G♯ B♯
Family
Major

Notation in C♯

representative key
441357

Fretboard — frets 0–12

C♯ maj7 — frets 0 to 12, 24 notes, roots in orange3571713557133571713535710123456789101112
C♯ maj7 — frets 0 to 12, 24 notes, roots in orange3571713557133571713535710123456789101112

All 17 keys

open a key →

Same family

How to practise this arpeggio

  • Hold the seventh against the root and listen for the half-step friction.
  • Resolve the seventh up to the root and feel the chord land.
  • Play it as the final chord of a ii–V–I and let the seventh ring.
  • Arpeggiate it from the third instead of the root to hear a different shape.