A Major 7th Chord: Notes, Voicings, and How to Play It

Three chords live on the third string of a guitar in the first two frets. Leave the string open and x 0 2 0 2 0 is A7. Press the 1st fret and x 0 2 1 2 0 is Amaj7. Press the 2nd and x 0 2 2 2 0 is plain A major. Those positions sound G, G♯ and A, so one finger on one string covers the whole distance between a chord that must move, a chord that hovers and a chord that has arrived. Amaj7 is the middle one, and its G♯ sits a semitone under the root, which is what stops it settling.

Try It: Amaj7 in the Chord Finder

Set the root to A, sound the major triad, then add G♯ and hear the top of the chord lean against the bottom.

The Notes of Amaj7

Written out: A, C♯, E, G♯. Two black keys, two white. The key signature of A major carries three sharps, F♯, C♯ and G♯; this chord takes two of them and leaves F♯ alone, so it introduces nothing the key has not already declared. A7 on the same root does the opposite and pulls a G back to natural.

How Amaj7 Is Built

Stack a major 3rd, a minor 3rd and then a major 3rd again: A to C♯, C♯ to E, E to G♯. The outer interval is eleven semitones, one short of the octave, and that is the chord in a sentence. Upward from the root, A to G♯ is a major 7th, wide and pleasant. The other way round, G♯ to A is a semitone, the most abrasive interval there is. Both describe the same two notes, and which you hear depends on nothing but where you put them.

Drop the G♯ a semitone to G and you get A7, which changes the chord’s purpose entirely. Drop the C♯ and keep the G♯ and you have AmMaj7. Remove the seventh and you are back at A major.

The C♯ Minor Triad Inside It

Take the top three notes on their own. C♯, E and G♯ is a C♯ minor triad in root position, so Amaj7 is a C♯ minor chord with an A under it, and the bass note is all that separates a bright major seventh from a plain minor one.

The guitar proves it on one string. Play x 0 6 6 5 4 without a barre: index on the first string at the fourth fret, middle on the second at the fifth, ring and little on the third and fourth at the sixth. Those four fretted notes are C♯ minor, and the open fifth string under them makes Amaj7. Barre the fifth string at the fourth fret, x 4 6 6 5 4, and the bass becomes C♯ while nothing above it moves.

One chord it is not identical to, despite the resemblance, is F♯m7. The two share A, C♯ and E and disagree on the fourth note, G♯ against F♯. The chord that really is F♯m7 renamed is A6.

Amaj7 on the Piano

The two notes that define the chord are touching. G♯ is the last black key of the group of three and leans directly against A, so root and major 7th are neighbours on the keyboard even though root position spaces them eleven semitones apart.

That spacing is what hides the friction. A, C♯, E, G♯ puts the fifth between them and the chord comes out as a major triad with a halo. Every other close position arrangement exposes it: C♯ E G♯ A, E G♯ A C♯ and G♯ A C♯ E each place the G♯ immediately below an A. Root position is the only one of the four that keeps them apart, which is why the chord is so often written with the seventh on top.

The stretch is real too. Thumb on A and little finger on G♯ is one key short of an octave, but that finger lands on a raised key set back into the keyboard, harder than an octave across white keys, so most players put the A alone in the left hand instead.

Amaj7 on the Guitar

The open form is x 0 2 1 2 0: middle finger on the fourth string at the second fret, index on the third at the first, ring on the second at the second. The finger that retreats is the middle one of the three, so instead of a crowded column the hand makes a shallow V, with room on either side of the gap.

The chord sounds A2, E3, G♯3, C♯4, E4, and that ordering matters more than it looks. The G♯ lands a major 7th above the bass, with a fifth in between and no A anywhere near it, so the open shape comes out sweet rather than sour. The semitone the theory keeps warning about never happens.

To hear the rub you have to build it on purpose. Keep the full A major grip and add the sixth string at the fourth fret, giving 4 0 2 2 2 0, usually with the thumb hooked over the neck. That is G♯ in the bass with the open A directly above it, a semitone apart on the two lowest strings, and it growls. Use it as the second step of a bass line falling A, G♯, G, F♯: x 0 2 2 2 0, then 4 0 2 2 2 0, then 3 0 2 0 2 0, then 2 0 0 2 3 2 for D/F♯, with the top of the chord holding still throughout.

Up the neck, x x 7 6 5 4 is the most economical form, one of each note, for when a bass player has the root. Drop the fourth string too and x x 6 6 5 4 is rootless, that C♯ minor triad once more. The full barre, 5 7 6 6 5 5, buys the low A at the price of a heavy grip.

Inversions

The first inversion is the mildest of the three: the root sits above a complete C♯ minor triad, so the semitone lands at the ceiling of the chord where it reads as brightness rather than mud. The third inversion is the aggressive one and belongs in a bass line rather than at a cadence. Spread it rather than stacking it, with A a ninth above the G♯ instead of a semitone, and it keeps its edge without the grinding.

Voicings

Which Keys Contain Amaj7

• I of A major
• IV of E major
• VI of C♯ natural minor
• III of F♯ natural minor
• I of A lydian
• V of D lydian

The lydian entries are the practical ones for an improviser. A lydian differs from A major only in raising D to D♯, and this chord contains neither note, so both fit it exactly. Lydian is a free choice of colour rather than a compromise, which is why it is the default over a major seventh that is not the tonic. In F♯ minor, further down the list, the same chord is the III, and it swaps with F♯m7 without the harmony committing to either key.

Where Amaj7 Shows Up

The E major row is the chord’s busiest address. E is the most resonant key on a guitar and Amaj7 is its IV, the standard soul, bossa and ballad substitution for a plain subdominant. Part of why it works is what the two share: E major is E, G♯ and B, so the move to Amaj7 keeps both E and G♯ sounding. The brightest note of the tonic chord, its major third, becomes the most tender note of the next without moving at all.

C♯ minor takes the same relationship somewhere else. Amaj7 there is the VI chord, and since C♯, E and G♯ is the tonic triad, that VI chord is the tonic with a new note under it. Nothing changes except the floor, which is why so many pop songs in this key circle the loop without ever resolving.

In A major itself the chord is a departure rather than an arrival. End a song on Amaj7 and the G♯ is left pressing against the root, so the piece sounds suspended, which is why arrangers choose it when an ending should be questioned rather than settled.

Related Chords

• A Dominant 7th Chord the same shape with the seventh a semitone lower
• A Major Chord the triad underneath it
• C♯ Minor Chord the triad sitting on top of it
• A Major 6th Chord the other bright four-note chord on this root
• Seventh Chords: The Complete Guide

Learn More

• Extended Chords and Jazz Harmony
• Chord Inversions and Voice Leading
• Diatonic Chords: A Beginner’s Guide
• The Circle of Fifths Explained
• The A Major Scale