MinMaj7 Chords - Question for you theory buffs

[Bass_Bear]

Hey guys,

Little question about the Minor+Major 7th. Basically it's really simple, where in a progression is it okay to use the mmaj7 chord? Let's use the key of C for example, is it supposed to act as a major, a minor, diminished? I'm really not sure anymore so any info would be awesome. Thanks!

J

[EADG mx]

Interesting chord, it's not diatonic to major or minor keys (although it is I if you construct the 7th chords of the harmonic minor scale).

Not to say you can't find a way to use it in a major key, but I think you're far more likely to find it in a minor.

You might find it beneficial to think of it as a minor triad, with the maj7 as an extension rather than a chord tone. I tend to hear it this way fwiw.

[JtheJazzMan]

In typical harmony it could be built from harmonic minor or melodic minor. A few common examples:

The aeolian mode can be substituted with harmonic minor. Very common in traditional western harmony, though often the chord isnt spelt explicitly min maj7th, perhaps just a minor triad. No reason why you cant.

The lydian mode (or IV chord) is often replaced with a minor chord for that lovely cheesy modal interchange sound

Thats a very versatile chord, intead of lydian you could use dorian, melodic minor, or dorian #11. Melodic minor obviously gives you the maj7th

Those are pretty standard ones.

For some more "out there" examples, try substituting melodic minor onto relative minor chords of flat direction major 7th chords.

So in the key of C major try using Bb-, C-, Eb-, F-, G- and use their respective melodic minor scales.

Try to find some more that work, just experiment

[cowsgomoo]

when you hear it in real-world compositional situations, it's either used as what you might call a 'special effect' chord... you use it for its mysterious, unsettled sound and literally drop it in in place of a straight minor or major chord to highlight a specific lyrical point.. or, (like its cousin, the augmented chord) it's used as a passing chord as a result of chromatic alteration

i.e. Em - Em(maj7) - Em7

[Deacon_Blues]

Listen to "I just called to say I love you".

It's pretty common also in similar progressions in latin music: Em - Em(maj7) - Em7 - Em6. Also notice that if you play a fifth in the bass over the Em(maj7) chord, you'll get a B+ chord, which also could be substituted with a B7#5 chord for slightly more tension.

[slybass3000]

Originally Posted by Deacon_Blues

Listen to "I just called to say I love you".

It's pretty common also in similar progressions in latin music: Em - Em(maj7) - Em7 - Em6. Also notice that if you play a fifth in the bass over the Em(maj7) chord, you'll get a B+ chord, which also could be substituted with a B7#5 chord for slightly more tension.

+1 on this.

I would like to add that sometimes it is the bass that moves down like this : Emi-**Emi/D#**-Emi/D-Emin/C#-Emin/C which results like:

Emi- **EminMaj7/D#**-Emin7/D-Emin6/C# (C#min7b5)- Emin/C (CMaj7)

I would like to say that if the Bass play the Maj7, the Emin could be changed for B+/D# to avoid the minor ninth interval between D# and E.

In a minor tonality especially in Jazz you'll find the I minMaj7 if the Major 7 or the major 9 is in the melody. Usually the Minor melodic (Jazz) scale is played over that chord,


Sly

[mambo4]

I addition to the chromatic movement min / min(maj7) /Min7/ Min6 mentioned above, It's also the root chord of the Harmonic Minor scale, if you use seventh chords:

i min(maj7)
ii min7b5
bIII+ maj7 (augmented triad w/maj7)
vi min7
V7
bVI maj7
vii dim7 (? could be wrong on the vii)

Sting uses one quite nicely in "It's Probably Me"

[BassChuck]

Listen to the opening of Mahler's 3rd Symphony.

[Correlli]

you could use it anywhere, if you want dissonant sounding harmony.
another example:
C7-F7-G7-Gm(Maj7)-C7

[JimK]

Originally Posted by Deacon_Blues

Listen to "I just called to say I love you".

Not even at gun-point.

[Pacman]

Originally Posted by JimK

Not even at gun-point.

yeah, Stevie Wonder's a hack - nothing to be learned there.

[Correlli]

And this sounds really odd.

C7-F7-G7-Am(Maj7)-C7

[Otso]

Remember, that in classical (as in the whole of it, not just the Haydn & Mozart bunch) theory, there really isn't a minor scale, or three different minor scales. Minor is a selection of tones, the natural, harmonic and melodic combined. In music, it's very rare for just one of the scales to be used, they're all most often used in combination.

Diether De La Motte writes something like that in his Harmony book, and IMO that's quite a good way to think about it. Not really spot on the topic, but just something I though would be quite useful for those just getting acquainted with minor harmony.

[Bass_Bear]

Thanks for all the replies guys, this definitely makes things clearer.

J

[JimK]

Originally Posted by Pacman

yeah, Stevie Wonder's a hack - nothing to be learned there.

Maybe I played it back in the day...oh, about 200-300 times?

Geez, get a grip, it was a joke.

[HaVIC5]

Originally Posted by Otso

Remember, that in classical (as in the whole of it, not just the Haydn & Mozart bunch) theory, there really isn't a minor scale, or three different minor scales. Minor is a selection of tones, the natural, harmonic and melodic combined. In music, it's very rare for just one of the scales to be used, they're all most often used in combination.

Diether De La Motte writes something like that in his Harmony book, and IMO that's quite a good way to think about it. Not really spot on the topic, but just something I though would be quite useful for those just getting acquainted with minor harmony.

Yeah, this is a very important thing to understand. Classical (see: common practice) composers never though in terms of "natural minor, harmonic minor, melodic minor" when they were writing - they simply took the minor scale and modified degrees six and seven depending on the cadential and melodic neccesities of the moment. It wasn't until academia came along and essentially invented three scales to simplify what exactly was happening in compositions in the minor key because it was considered too complicated for beginning students of theory to understand. The whole thing with the melodic minor being different ascending and descending is purely an artifice for the purposes of pedagogy, and since it has been passed down, several generations of instrumentalists have been lead to believe that this is how common practice (classical) music written in the minor key works. It doesn't, it never has. For the purposes of composition IN THAT STYLE there is only one scale - the minor scale.

I would recommend getting Kostka/Payne's Tonal Harmony, it gives a very thorough explanation of the variable 6th and 7th degrees of the minor scale.

[Mark Wilson]

I'm not 100% sure on this, but in the key of C, you can use an Fmi(ma7) because it's a Subdominant minor substitute.

[HaVIC5]

Minor major 7 chord sound far more like tonics than minor 7 chords because of the inherant tendency of the dominant seventh to sound like it needs to resolve down a half step, whereas the major 7th wants to resolve up a half step. The target tone of resolution of the dominant seventh is the major third of the chord a perfect fourth higher, whereas the target tone of the resolution of the major seventh is the tonic of its chord. What do I mean by that? Well, say you have the chord progression, F#-7(b5), B7b9, E-7. The guide tone line that includes the seventh of the E-7 is going to be E (seventh of the F#-7(b5)) to D# (third of the B7(b9)) to D (minor seventh of the E-7). There is no finality with this last note, there is a tendency for it to want to continue to resolve chromatically until it gets to a point where it no longer can resolve downwards chromatically to a stable, diatonic chord tone. E-7 sounds like it should resolve to A7 (D resolving to C#), which in turn resolves to Dmaj7, where the line has stopped on the major 7th or C#. The full line is E-D#-D-C#-C# This has an implied resolution up to the tonic, and thus sounds stable with itself. The minor 7th in these diatonic contexts doesn't sound "at rest" enough. It's not dissonant, but it's not too terribly stable either.

Jazz pianists and jazz musicians have been fully aware of this tendency of resolution for a long time. In the 20's-40's, the standard voicing for a tonic minor chord was the minor 6th chord, not a minor 7th chord. The major sixth on these chords doesn't really have an implied resolution in any sort of direction. If the chord then proceeded to a chord built a perfect fourth up from the tonic (like A7 from E-7), the major sixth would be the major 3rd of the following chord, and there really wouldn't be any sort of resolution - the movement would be very weak. The major 6th therefore sounds more "tonic-like" because there isn't really any chord that it can be forced to "resolved to", unlike the minor 7th chord. During the 40's, the minor(major7) chord began to creep in as an alternative to the minor 6th tonic chord as a more spicy, dissonant-laden option. Because the major seventh had such a strong tendency to want to resolve upwards to the root of the tonic chord, there was no conflict of interest with where the chord wanted to resolve.

Now, common practice says that minor 7th chords are acceptable tonic minor chords, but this historically wasn't really the case. If you want to sound more authentic, especially if you're playing tin pan alley or the great American songbook, minor 6 and minor(maj7) chords are the way to go.

[derekd]

I agree with all the above. Minormaj7 chord is the I chord for the harmonized Melodic and Harmonic minor scales, and that chord can be used as a substitute for a minor chord. Used all the time in jazz, and is referred to as modal interchange when you use it as such.

Cool chord in context.