Question - C7+

[Malcolm35]

What is the chord spelling for a C7+ chord. Not sure what the + is telling me. It's used in a jazz 2-5-1-6 progression in C.

|Dm7 |G7 |C7+ |A7 |Repeat 4 times

Thanks guys.

 

[FatStringer52]

C Dominant 7 Sharp 5 (C7+) = C E G# Bb

 

[Malcolm35]

Thanks. Sharp 5 makes since.

 

[SteveCS]

Thanks. Sharp 5 makes since.

Look up Augmented...

 

[Groove Master]

Well in this context I think it is a really bad way to write a Major 7.

The fact that the + is AFTER the seven makes me think that. An augmented chord would be written C+7 instead.

 

[Malcolm35]

Sylvain, good to hear from you, been awhile.

 

[Whousedtoplay]

Well in this context I think it is a really bad way to write a Major 7.

The fact that the + is AFTER the seven makes me think that. An augmented chord would be written C+7 instead.

Cmaj7 would be a logic element in that chord progression.
Caug7 does not sound right in Malcolm's pop-ish chord progression.

 

[Ed Fuqua]

Well in this context I think it is a really bad way to write a Major 7.

The fact that the + is AFTER the seven makes me think that. An augmented chord would be written C+7 instead.

No.

 

[Groove Master]

No.

Well it is much easier to read an augmented dominant like x+7 then C7(#5) especially if there is telephone numbers in the brackets ;-). I learned that in L.A. from the top music writers but hey there is no convention yet. But that said, I really like the Sher's notation btw. The advantage of using the +7 notation is that while sight-reading I know right away if the fifth is altered or not which for us bassists is very useful ;-)

My point is regarding the 7+ from the OP which makes me think it is a Maj7 chord and not an augmented fifth.

 

[Richard Lindsey]

Well it is much easier to read an augmented dominant like x+7 then C7(#5) especially if there is telephone numbers in the brackets ;-). I learned that in L.A. from the top music writers but hey there is no convention yet. But that said, I really like the Sher's notation btw. The advantage of using the +7 notation is that while sight-reading I know right away if the fifth is altered or not which for us bassists is very useful ;-)

My point is regarding the 7+ from the OP which makes me think it is a Maj7 chord and not an augmented fifth.

You're right that conventions vary. I've worked a lot in recent years with a number of Brazilian-published songbooks in which a Cmaj7 is rendered as C7M (nope, not CM7 as opposed to Cm7). That's something I've never seen in an American book, but apparently it's not uncommon in Brazil. It definitely took a while to get used to.

 

[Groove Master]

You're right that conventions vary. I've worked a lot in recent years with a number of Brazilian-published songbooks in which a Cmaj7 is rendered as C7M (nope, not CM7 as opposed to Cm7). That's something I've never seen in an American book, but apparently it's not uncommon in Brazil. It definitely took a while to get used to.

Yes I know what you mean.

I even saw a big band chart where the difference between a C7 dominant and a C Maj7 was the horizontal bar in the 7 which I cannot reproduce here lol.

 

[Snarf]

Could be an unusual way to notate maj7 or a C+7 chord with the + in the wrong spot. Are you seeing this in a lead sheet for a tune? I'd go to a recording of the tune to verify.

 

[John Burgess]

Chord symbols are more often the way they are through convention rather than logic. If a symbol causes an argument, I'd say that's already a flaw in communicating what the chord is trying to convey.

In this case, C7+ isn't too confusing. Without specifying a scale degree, "+" augments the 5th in any case I've seen. But you could also be augmenting 9ths or 11ths for example, so it doesn't hurt to explicitly point out +5.

If the author wanted Cmaj7#5 or Cmaj7+ or Cmaj7+5 etc, but wrote C7+, I'd ask them to change it. The augmented symbol is modifying degrees that are already stated, ie, C7 states R, M3, P5, m7, then "+" modifies the P5 to A5.