How To Play Amaj7 Chord on Guitar
In today's lesson, we'll go over 5 distinct ways to play the A major seventh chord also written as Amaj7 or AM7 for short.
The Amaj7 chord is a major chord with a little extra sauce that helps give it a unique sound and that special sauce is where the number 7 comes from.
In this article, we'll discover common positions, voicings, and recommend finger placements, each with its chord diagram and later, we'll also discuss chord theory, how it gets its name, and how to use it, etc.
Amaj7 Guitar Chord Open Position
The most common way to play Amaj7 is in open position. To play place your:
- Middle finger on fourth string, second fret
- Ring finger on second string, second fret
- Index finger on third string, first fret
Amaj7 played using Barre chords
This first bar chord example is a four string voicing which means we will avoid strumming the low e string and the A string. To play, place your:
- First finger on D string, 7th fret
- Third finger on G string, 9th fret
- Bar across the B string and high E string
Where only one finger is doing the barre on one fret of the fretboard, make sure your thumb is in the correct position so all the strings ring out.
Amaj7 Barre Chord Shape 2
This next voicing will sound the most full as it uses all the strings. To play, place your:
- Second finger on fourth string, 6th fret
- Third finger on third string, 6th fret
- First finger on sixth string, fifth fret
- Fourth finger on the fifth string, 7th fret
This shape may take more practice to get your hand to work right so all notes ring out. See the video for tips on technique.
This next version for Amaj7 shown below is just like the open position but transposed up an octave. To play, place your:
- Second finger on third string, 13th fret
- Third finger on 4th string, 14th fret
- Pinky finger on 2nd string, 14th fret
- First finger on 5th string, 12th fret
- Barr, using your first finger
Amaj7 Chord Barre Chord Shape 4
This last shape is a bit easier than the previous two chords and a great chord to add to your chord vocabulary. To play, place your:
- Pinky on 5th string, 8th fret
- Ring finger on 4th string, 7th fret
- Barre with your index finger on strings 1 - 3
Need help speeding up your chords transitions?
Get my free PDF download and video training and solve this once and for all!
Beginner
How to speed up your chord changes in less than 30 days
A Major 7th Chord Theory
Now, let's break down the theory of the Amaj7 chord so you can better understand how it is constructed and how to use it.
The A major seventh chord is a four note chord built from the A major scale: A B C# D E F# G#
To understand the chord formula, you need to understand "scale degrees," which is simply numbering the notes of a scale starting with the root note.
Often, music teachers reference piano note names due to the simplicity of the layout of a piano for scales, but I think the illustration below will do:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
A B C# D E F# G#
The Amaj7 Chord Formula
In music theory, chord formula refers to which notes of a scale are used to make the chord. The A major chord uses three notes, the 1 3 5 of the scale. The Amaj7 uses four notes using the 1 3 5 7 notes of the scale.
This can sometimes be a lot to take in, which is why I included the notes on each chord diagram to act as a mini fretboard map.
You may also hear these notes explained using intervals such as the root, major third, perfect fifth, and major seventh. That is another layer deeper in the theory and can cause some confusion. We'll have that discussion in another lesson.
A major seventh chord vs A dominant seventh chord
Both these seventh chords are major chords because they both use notes 1 3 5 as part of their formula. The 3rd degree of a scale is what determines if the chord is major or minor because when the 3rd degree of a scale is flattened, this makes minor chords. (more on this in future articles).
Where these two chords differ is the major seventh uses the 7th degree and the dominant seventh uses a flat seven. The notes of Amaj7 would be A C# E G# and A7 would be A C# E G.
Amaj7 Chord Inversions
The notes of a chord can be in any order so long as you have at least one of each of these notes. When the root note (in this case, the A note) is the lowest sounding note or bass note it is said to be in the root position.
When the root note is not the bass note it would be called an inversion and written as a slash chord. e.g. Amaj7/E. All this means is play the Amaj7 chord but have the E note as the bass note.
How To Use A Major Seventh Chord
The A major seventh chord can be used to make a chord progression have a slightly more unique tone than just a typical progression that uses major chords and minor chords. You can also use these guitar chords for voice leading to help the music flow a bit more naturally.
For example, in the song Stairway To Heaven by Led Zepplin the Fmaj7 is followed by an Am. The notes of Fmaj7 are F A C E and for Am they are A C E. Adding in the 7th degree adds an E note to the F chord and thus it flows better to Am because now there are 2 common tones (notes that are the same).
Chord Progressions Using Amaj7 On Guitar
Instead of E A B try E Amaj7 B
Try E Esus4 x2 then Amaj7
What Keys Use Amaj7 Guitar Chord?
Amaj7 works in the key of: A major, E major F#m C#m
Now you know a few ways to play the Amaj7 chord and understand some Amaj7 chord theory!
If you need help understanding keys and more in-depth theory, inside the Guitar GPS Method, I'll systematically build your skills, knowledge, and creativity in an easy to follow leveled system of gamified courses and popular songs.
Did you find this article helpful? If so, please share!