Sevenths
A major 7th chord
Lush and mellow — a signature sound of jazz, soul and bossa nova.
Amaj7 is the Imaj7 chord in A major and IVmaj7 in E major. In minor keys: IIImaj7 in F♯ minor and VImaj7 in C♯ minor.
- Notes
- AC♯EG♯
- Formula
- 1357
- Built from
- root · major 3rd · perfect 5th · major 7th
How to play Amaj7
About the A major 7th chord
Amaj7 is the IVmaj7 of E and the Imaj7 of A — its open guitar voicing has a bright, ringing quality.
Playing it
On guitar, Amaj7 has an open-position shape, x02120, using three fingers alongside the open strings. Don’t strum the low E string.
On piano, Amaj7 has two black keys (C♯ and G♯) and two white keys.
On ukulele the usual Amaj7 shape is 1100, using two fingers.
Related chords
Take away the root and the other three notes form C♯m (C♯ E G♯) — so you can think of Amaj7 as C♯m with A added underneath.
Move a single note and Amaj7 becomes a different chord: drop the G♯ for A, lower G♯ to G for A7, swap G♯ for F♯ for A6 and swap G♯ for B for Aadd9.
Where you’ll hear it
You’ll find Amaj7 in common progressions such as Bm7–E7–Amaj7 (the jazz cadence in A major).
