Sevenths
D♯ major 7th chord
Lush and mellow — a signature sound of jazz, soul and bossa nova.
D♯maj7 is the Imaj7 chord in E♭ major and IVmaj7 in B♭ major. In minor keys: IIImaj7 in C minor and VImaj7 in G minor.
- Notes
- D♯F𝄪A♯C𝄪
- Formula
- 1357
- Built from
- root · major 3rd · perfect 5th · major 7th
How to play D♯maj7
About the D♯ major 7th chord
Playing it
On guitar, D♯maj7 has an open-position shape, xx1033, using three fingers alongside the open strings. Don’t strum the low E and A strings.
On piano, D♯maj7 has two black keys (D♯ and A♯) and two white keys.
On ukulele the usual D♯maj7 shape is 3335, 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 D♯maj7 as F𝄪m with D♯ added underneath.
Move a single note and D♯maj7 becomes a different chord: drop the C𝄪 for D♯, lower C𝄪 to C♯ for D♯7, swap C𝄪 for B♯ for D♯6 and swap C𝄪 for E♯ for D♯add9.
Where you’ll hear it
You’ll find D♯maj7 in common progressions such as Fm7–B♭7–E♭maj7 (the jazz cadence in E♭ major).
Notice the F𝄪 in D♯maj7 (D♯ F𝄪 A♯ C𝄪): each note of the chord takes its own letter (D–F–A–C), so the major 3rd has to be written F𝄪 rather than G — the same key on a piano, spelled to fit the chord.
