• Home
  • News▼
    • Latest News
    • Newsletter Sign-up
    • RSS Feed
  • Guitar Lessons▼
    • Beginner Guitar Lessons
    • Intermediate Guitar Lessons
    • Advanced Guitar Lessons
    • All Guitar Lessons
  • Chords
  • Scales
  • Arpeggios
  • Music Theory▼
    • Beginner Music Theory
    • Intermediate Music Theory
    • Advanced Music Theory
    • All Music Theory
  • Guides▼
    • Buying Guides
    • Maintenance Guides
    • Music Industry Guides
    • All Guides
  • More▼
    • Tools & Apps
    • Music Directory
    • Help Charts
    • Miscellaneous
    • Help & Support

Ricmedia Guitar

Free Guitar Lessons

You are here: Home / Guitar Chords / Major seventh chord

August 29, 2013 By Richie Leave a Comment

Major seventh chord

A major seventh chord is composed using a root/1st, major 3rd, perfect 5th and major 7th (or R/1-3-5-7) intervals played simultaneously. Generally written as CMA7, Cma7 or CΔ7, it is good practice to simply use an uppercase C with the uppercase letters MA followed by a super scripted 7 to represent it in writing (ie: CMA7).

The tonality of a major seventh chord is consonant, resolved and stable, it does not "lead away" from itself like the dominant seventh chord, or leave the listener with a sense of "suspense" like the minor seventh flat five chord.


Major seventh chord profile

Intervals root/1st, major 3rd, perfect 5th, major 7th or R/1-3-5-7
Stability Consonant, stable, resolved
Grouping class Tetrad
Common names (examples in C) CMA7, Cmaj7, CMAJ7, Cma7, CΔ7


Chord shapes/voicings

  • Major seventh chord shapes
  • Help
  • Guitar neck notes
  • Octave chart
Major seventh chord shapes for guitar
Chord box reading guide
All notes on guitar neck
Guitar octave chart guide


Major seventh chord table

Chord name Root Major third Perfect fifth Major seventh
CMA7 C E G B
C♯MA7 C♯ E♯ (F) G♯ B♯ (C)
D♭MA7 D♭ F A♭ C
DMA7 D F♯ A C♯
D♯MA7 D♯ FDouble Sharp (G) A♯ CDouble Sharp (D)
E♭MA7 E♭ G B♭ D
EMA7 E G♯ B D♯
FMA7 F A C E
F♯MA7 F♯ A♯ C♯ E♯ (F)
G♭MA7 G♭ B♭ D♭ F
GMA7 G B D F♯
G♯MA7 G♯ B♯ (C) D♯ FDouble Sharp (G)
A♭MA7 A♭ C E♭ G
AMA7 A C♯ E G♯
A♯MA7 A♯ CDouble Sharp (D) E♯ (F) GDouble Sharp (A)
B♭MA7 B♭ D F A
BMA7 B D♯ F♯ A♯


Audio sample(s)

D Major chord voicing #1 http://guitar.ricmedia.com/wp-content/uploads/major-seventh-chord/d-major-seventh-chord-voicing-1.mp3




Filed Under: Guitar Chords, Major Seventh Chords

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Help & Support • Legal, Terms & Privacy • Contact Details • Copyright ©2006- Ricmedia • Part of the Ricmedia group of websites   Part of the Ricmedia group of websites