Improvising over maj7 chords

[Mushroo]

I was referring to it being diatonically correct using Lydian in the diatonically correct IV position if...I know there isnt a D# in an AMaj7 chord....Not muddying any waters: Some folks play patterns......

I think the professor is looking for "correct" not "diatonically correct."

Like if you ask me to play "Mary Had a Little Lamb" and I play B A F G D D C, that is "diatonically correct" but certainly not "correct."

Just because a note fits the key signature doesn't make it the "right" note. Use your ears!!

 

[Rib 13]

I think the professor is looking for "correct" not "diatonically correct."

Like if you ask me to play "Mary Had a Little Lamb" and I play B A F G D D C, that is "diatonically correct" but certainly not "correct."

Just because a note fits the key signature doesn't make it the "right" note. Use your ears!!

That was the point of my post

 

[Groove Master]

Its not a song. I’m preparing for a music exam. One of the tests is an improvisation over a previously unseen piece. I have about 10 charts varying from reggae, country and RnB and 4/4, 3/4 & 6/8 time to practice with. The accompanying tracks are very basic. Simple drum beats, strummed guitar and melody on piano. The root note played on the maj7 sounds harsh in all of them to me.

I would suggest to try a Sir Paul bassline then.

For example in the high register play something like:|E /D# |A/C# B | F#m/A /G# | C#m/F# C#m/B ||

 

[sedan_dad]

There's a lot more to improv than just mathematically finding a note that "fits" the chord. You also have to listen to the other musicians and play something that fits with what they are playing!

Spot on. Thats why music theory is just that, a theory.

 

[shwashwa]

can you upload the track you're supposed to play with so we can hear it?

 

[dbsfgyd1]

But you wouldn't voice a major 7th chord that way, right? In a piano voicing you'd play the major 7 and then then 9 if it's stacked in thirds or the major 3 if it's stacked in fourths.

I really haven’t given it that much though being honest. I don’t play piano and don’t have a keyboard at the moment. I don’t have enough fingers to do that on a guitar LOL!!

 

[Koshchei]

This has been getting me all week. I’m trying to improvise a bass line over a chart with some maj 7 chords in it but if I play the root on the “one” for those chords it doesn’t sound good. For example:

E | Amaj7 B | F#m7 | C#m

Its fine on the rest of the progression but when I get to that Amaj7 it sounds off. Same happens with Emaj7 Ebmaj7 or Abmaj7 etc. any tips? What am I doing wrong here? Am I missing a key bit of theory?

Depends on what the melody is playing at the time. The "song" is the melody, not the arrangement.

 

[BobDeRosa]

All those chords are modes of the E major scale. Try ignoring the changes and creating a melody using only notes of that scale and see what happens. It may not be perfect the first time, but I'll bet it will be decent. Start on E or G# and don't be afraid to hold some notes over the bar lines. Good luck.

 

[sean_on_bass]

This has been getting me all week. I’m trying to improvise a bass line over a chart with some maj 7 chords in it but if I play the root on the “one” for those chords it doesn’t sound good. For example:

E | Amaj7 B | F#m7 | C#m

Its fine on the rest of the progression but when I get to that Amaj7 it sounds off. Same happens with Emaj7 Ebmaj7 or Abmaj7 etc. any tips? What am I doing wrong here? Am I missing a key bit of theory?

Just try playing root/fifth half notes for each chord. The Amaj7 sounds fine and is a sensical place to go from an E major where E major is the key of the song. It's a simple 1-4-5 in the first two bars. What i find most awkward here is the C#m at the end of the progression. It seems to be leading to nowhere. Does not turn around cleanly back to the E, so i'd be curious if there are more chords after it. If you post a pic of the chart that may have some more helpful info.

 

[Koshchei]

All those chords are modes of the E major scale. Try ignoring the changes and creating a melody using only notes of that scale and see what happens. It may not be perfect the first time, but I'll bet it will be decent. Start on E or G# and don't be afraid to hold some notes over the bar lines. Good luck.

It also works as an A major... without the melody, you can interpret a lot out of this fragment:

With the momentary perfect cadence, moving to the ii/ix, you could probably interpret it as a diatonic movement upwards in your line. Then depending on whether you see the F#m7 as the vi or the dim. v of the ii, you can either treat it as an inverted III of the A or go down the Slonimsky road into a Tritone progression, which, though cool, is probably too "outside" for country music. Then you end on the third of A, albeit with a minor voicing, which implies a modulation. Lots of ways to skin this cat without a melody to keep it on the rails.

I mean, it is obviously a I-IV-V in Emaj, but not necessarily

 

[Lackey]

Shoot just try some other notes. I'd start with the 5th.

 

[Whousedtoplay]

The root note played on the maj7 sounds harsh in all of them to me.

OK.
What if you decide to stay on E - a pedal point - with the Amaj7 chord?
Another suggestion.
Try to transcribe the melody notes with/during that Amaj7 chord.

 

[Whousedtoplay]

What i find most awkward here is the C#m at the end of the progression.

Try that chord progression without Amaj7, as in
E - B - F#min7 - C#min (as Tonic)
F#min7 - C#min as a Minor Plagal cadence - iv - i.

 

[rashrader]

I’d use that maj7 as a passing tone (treating it as such, since it technically isn’t) resolving into the root and nothing more….

 

[logdrum]

Weird chord AM7 to B and then the C#m7 is almost hanging - anyways

On that bar maybe a chromatic walk to B on the 3 of bar 2 starting from the G#. Or just hold an A for 1/2 note

or on E from the 3-And C# G# A.

A on bass will not clash with the piano or guitar AM7. unless they play low

Or radically- pedal an E for two bars and change on F#m

 

[tubatodd]

Putting my college music theory to work here. (It's rusty)

A major7 - A-C#-E-G#

Your excerpt starts on E (major) trial. The A major 7 is suggests it is the 5 of D major [edit D lydian](a secondary dominant). If you play the A in the bass, you have an A major 7. If you don't play A in the bass then technically the chord could be a C# min 13 (move the A to the top of the chord and C# in the bass). Interestingly enough the progression ends on C# min. So if you don't play the A in the bass, then it is no longer an A major 7. Right?

Watch some Rick Beato music theory videos on YouTube. He does a nice job of showing how chords can have completely different intent based on the voicing and what is in the bass.

 

[Groove Master]

Putting my college music theory to work here. (It's rusty)

A major7 - A-C#-E-G#

Your excerpt starts on E (major) trial. The A major 7 is suggests it is the 5 of D major (a secondary dominant). If you play the A in the bass, you have an A major 7. If you don't play A in the bass then technically the chord could be a C# min 13 (move the A to the top of the chord and C# in the bass). Interestingly enough the progression ends on C# min. So if you don't play the A in the bass, then it is no longer an A major 7. Right?

Watch some Rick Beato music theory videos on YouTube. He does a nice job of showing how chords can have completely different intent based on the voicing and what is in the bass.

AMaj7 is NOT A7.

 

[Yonni]

What’s the key signature? E major?

Yes

 

[Yonni]

What i find most awkward here is the C#m at the end of the progression. It seems to be leading to nowhere. Does not turn around cleanly back to the E, so i'd be curious if there are more chords after

Yes. I just posted the first 4 measures. If I get a chance later I’ll post the rest.

 

[tubatodd]

AMaj7 is NOT A7.

Glad we are in agreement. Please look at the notes I listed. The G# makes it A major 7