Major seventh chord

	Email		Print
	Bookmark		Link

Major seventh chord

In music

Music

Music is an art form whose media is sound organized in time. Common elements of music are pitch , rhythm , dynamics , and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture ....
, a major seventh chord is any seventh chord

Seventh chord

A seventh chord is a chord consisting of a triad plus a note forming an interval of a seventh above the chord's root . When not otherwise specified, a "seventh chord" usually means a major triad with a flat seventh ....
where the "third" note is a major third

Major third

A major third is one of two commonly occurring musical intervals that span three diatonic scale degrees, the other being the minor third. It is denoted 'major' because it is the larger of the two: the major third is a leap of four semitones, the minor third three....
above the root.

Most typically, major seventh chord refers to where the "seventh" note is a major seventh

Major seventh

A major seventh is the larger of two commonly occurring musical intervals that span seven diatonic scale degrees. The prefix 'major' identifies it as being the larger of the two ; its smaller counterpart being a minor seventh....
above the root (a fifth

Perfect fifth

The perfect fifth is the musical interval between a note and the note seven semitones above it on the musical scale. For example, the note G lies a perfect fifth above C; D is a perfect fifth above G, C is a perfect fifth above F, and so on....
above the third note) . In case the seventh note is a minor seventh

Minor seventh

A minor seventh is the smaller of two commonly occurring musical intervals that span seven diatonic scale degrees. The prefix 'minor' identifies it as being the smaller of the two , its larger counterpart being a major seventh....
above the root, it is called a dominant seventh chord

Dominant seventh chord

Of all the seventh chords, perhaps the most important to understand is the 'dominant seventh' , a Major chord with a minor seventh. It was the first seventh chord to appear regularly in Western music....
(although this is also a kind of major seventh chord).

Commonly, major seventh notes consist of the normal chord with an added note which is an octave higher than one half step below the root.

Major seventh chords often have a jazzy

Jazz

Jazz is a primarily American musical art form which originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions....
, dreamy

Dream

Dreams are sequence s, sounds and feelings experienced while sleeping, strongly associated with rapid eye movement sleep. The contents and biological purposes of dreams are not fully understood, though they have been a topic of speculation and interest throughout recorded history....
sound to them.