Sevenths
D major 7th chord
Lush and mellow — a signature sound of jazz, soul and bossa nova.
Dmaj7 is the Imaj7 chord in D major and IVmaj7 in A major. In minor keys: IIImaj7 in B minor and VImaj7 in F♯ minor.
- Notes
- DF♯AC♯
- Formula
- 1357
- Built from
- root · major 3rd · perfect 5th · major 7th
How to play Dmaj7
About the D major 7th chord
Dmaj7 is the Imaj7 of D and the IVmaj7 of A — a bright, airy chord in guitar-friendly keys.
Playing it
On guitar, Dmaj7 is one of the friendlier shapes: xx0222 needs just one finger and lets the open strings ring. Don’t strum the low E and A strings.
On piano, Dmaj7 has two black keys (F♯ and C♯) and two white keys.
On ukulele the usual Dmaj7 shape is 2224, using four fingers.
Related chords
Take away the root and the other three notes form F♯m (F♯ A C♯) — so you can think of Dmaj7 as F♯m with D added underneath.
Move a single note and Dmaj7 becomes a different chord: drop the C♯ for D, lower C♯ to C for D7, swap C♯ for B for D6 and swap C♯ for E for Dadd9.
Where you’ll hear it
You’ll find Dmaj7 in common progressions such as Em7–A7–Dmaj7 (the jazz cadence in D major).
