A♭ minor-major 7th chord

Playing it

On guitar, A♭m(maj7) has an open-position shape, 421003, using four fingers alongside the open strings.

On piano, A♭m(maj7) has two black keys (A♭ and E♭) and two white keys.

On ukulele the usual A♭m(maj7) shape is 0342, using three fingers.

Related chords

Take away the root and the other three notes form C♭aug (C♭ E♭ G) — so you can think of A♭m(maj7) as C♭aug with A♭ added underneath.

Move a single note and A♭m(maj7) becomes a different chord: drop the G for A♭m, raise C♭ to C for A♭maj7, lower G to G♭ for A♭m7 and swap G for F for A♭m6.

Where you’ll hear it

Notice the C♭ in A♭m(maj7) (A♭ C♭ E♭ G): each note of the chord takes its own letter (A–C–E–G), so the minor 3rd has to be written C♭ rather than B — the same key on a piano, spelled to fit the chord.