Intervals
Major Seventh
7M · 11 semitones
Eleven semitones — a semitone short of the octave, and the interval that gives jazz its characteristic shimmer.
Also written M7 · 7M
Major Seventh
7M · 11 semitones
On the piano, from every note
| From | Notes | Play it on your instrument |
|---|---|---|
| C | C – B | |
| C# | C# – B# | |
| D | D – C# | |
| Eb | Eb – D | |
| E | E – D# | |
| F | F – E | |
| F# | F# – E# | |
| G | G – F# | |
| Ab | Ab – G | |
| A | A – G# | |
| Bb | Bb – A | |
| B | B – A# |
Tap a key or a fret to hear it.
Read on: number and quality · inversion · consonance and dissonance
Every seventh
A seventh can take these qualities, one semitone apart; choose one to see the upper note move and hear the pair.
Hear it in music
Songs that open with Major Seventh: the first two notes of each are the interval, which is how most players learn to recognise it.
Take On Mea-ha
The chorus melody leaps a major seventh.
Superman (Love Theme)John Williams
The opening interval.
Chords built with it
Scales that contain it
C MajorC · D · E · F · G · A · B
C Harmonic MinorC · D · Eb · F · G · Ab · B
C Melodic MinorC · D · Eb · F · G · A · B
C LydianC · D · E · F# · G · A · B
C ChromaticC · Db · D · Eb · E · F · Gb · G · Ab · A · Bb · B
C Harmonic MajorC · D · E · F · G · Ab · B
In C major
- C–B
- F–E
Understanding Major Seventh
Names and symbols
Major Seventh is written M7, 7M: the letter is the quality, the number the size. Chord formulas on this site write the number first, as tonal does.
Seconds, thirds, sixths and sevenths come in major and minor, a semitone apart, and can be widened to augmented or narrowed to diminished. Inverting one swaps the quality: a major third becomes a minor sixth, a minor second a major seventh.
How it sounds
A major seventh spans 11 semitones: C – B. Played as a bare interval it is sharply dissonant — the upper note is one semitone below the octave, and the two rub hard.
Placed inside a chord, with a third and fifth between them, that same rub becomes colour rather than clash. It is the clearest demonstration that dissonance is about spacing as much as about pitch.
How composers use it
Added to a major triad it produces the maj7 — lush, settled and unmistakably modern, the sound of bossa nova, neo-soul and film romance. Unlike the dominant seventh it contains no tritone, so it does not demand resolution.
Its inversion is the Minor Second, which is why so much voice leading treats a descending major seventh and an ascending semitone as interchangeable.
Learn this properly
Chapter 5: IntervalsCommon questions
- How many semitones is a Major Seventh?
- A Major Seventh spans 11 semitones: C – B. Count the semitones of any interval with the interval calculator.
- Why does a maj7 chord sound smooth when the bare interval is harsh?
- Spacing. With a third and fifth between them the two notes no longer beat directly against each other, so the dissonance reads as colour.
- What is the inversion of a major seventh?
- The Minor Second.
- How do I play Major Seventh?
- On guitar the handiest shape is Next string, B 1 · E 7, read as string and fret; the instrument panel draws it from any starting note with the other shapes. On the piano count 11 semitones up from any key, black keys included. Play the notes together for the harmonic form, one after the other for the melodic form.