A major seventh sharp five chord (also commonly called an augmented major seventh chord) is composed using a root/1^st, major 3^rd, augmented 5^th and major 7^th (or R/1-3-5-7) intervals played simultaneously. Generally written as CMA⁷⁽⁵⁾ or C^(ma7), it is good practice to use an uppercase C, followed by the uppercase letters MA then a superscripted ⁷⁽⁵⁾ to represent it in writing (ie: CMA⁷⁽⁵⁾).

The tonality of the major seventh sharp five chord is dissonant and unresolved, it does not particularly drive towards the root, but can be used in place of an augmented triad.

Major Seventh Sharp Five Tetrad

In music theory, a major seventh sharp five chord belongs to a group of chords called tetrads. Generally, a tetrad is a four note chord composed using specific intervals, those being the root/1^st, the 3^rd, the 5^th and the 7^th degrees (note absence of interval quality). As previously shown, a major seventh sharp five tetrad is composed using a root/1^st, major 3^rd, augmented 5^th and major 7^th (R/1-3-5-7) intervals. Other tetrads are built by raising or lowering the 3^rd, 5^th and/or 7^th degrees.

Major seventh, minor seventh, dominant seventh and minor seventh flat five tetrads occur naturally in the harmonized major scale (tetrads), a major seventh sharp five tetrad is simply an augmented triad with an added major 7^th interval.

Major Seventh Sharp Five Chord Profile

Intervals	root/1st, major 3rd, augmented 5th, major 7th or R/1-3-5-7
Stability	Dissonant / Unstable / Unresolved
Grouping Class	Tetrad
Common Names (examples in C)	CMA7(5), C(maj7), C7(5)

Major Seventh Sharp Five Chord Voicings

The chord voicings below are not shown in any particular key, they are shapes which can be moved around the guitar neck freely using the root note (circled dot) as your navigator. See example below.

• How to use
• As an example, let's say you require a D major chord
• After playing all the chord voicings, you decide on voicing #2
• Voicing #2 has it's root on the 5^th string so you need to find the D note on this string
• Click the notes on the neck chart tab and find the D note on the 5^th fret (5^th string)
• Now play D major using voicing #2 on the 5^th fret
• Use the Octave chart tab to help you remember which notes are where
• Use the Chord chart help tab if your a beginner at reading chord boxes

Major Seventh Sharp Five Chord Audio Sample(s)

To download audio sample(s) for later listening, right click on the MP3 link, then from the context menu that appears select Save Target As (Internet Explorer) or Save Link As (Firefox).

Audio Sample Name	Flash	MP3
D Major Seventh Sharp Five Chord voicing #1		d-major-seventh-sharp-five-chord-voicing-1.mp3

Related Lessons & Resources

• Guitar Lessons
• • How to read chord diagrams
  • Open chords part 1
• Music Theory
• • Harmonizing a major scale (triads)

External Resources

• Augmented major seventh chord at Wikipedia.org