Amaj7 is A, C#, E and G#. It keeps the triad and adds the , one fret below the root.
That half step against the root is the chord’s defining sound. Compare with Amaj7 to isolate it.
One repeated root moves down one fret to the major seventh. The other notes stay the same.
At the end of a jazz ii–V–I, Amaj7 can be the home chord. The 3rd of can stay in place as the major 7th of Amaj7.
Also written AM7, AΔ7, AΔ, Ama7 or A major 7.
Amaj7 in 2nd inversion puts E in the bass instead of A, the 5th of the chord. The notes are the same; what changes is what the bass line does, which is most of why you would reach for it — it lets the lowest voice move by step where the root would have jumped.
4 of Amaj7’s 19 shapes do this:xx2224x7769x12-x-11-13-10-x12-12-11-13-x-x
Amaj7 is the home chord of A major, where a ii–V–I comes to rest. The dominant’s leading tone doesn’t have to rise to the root: on a major seventh it can stay where it is.
Listen for: The ii’s seventh falls a half step to the dominant’s third, which holds over the barline as the major seventh.
Amaj7 can be reached without its V: from Dm7 and G7, the ii–V of the key a minor third higher. Instead of a leading tone rising into the root, the key’s flat sixth falls a half step to the fifth.
Listen for: The key’s flat sixth holds through the first two chords, then falls a half step to the fifth of the I.
In which keys. Every note of Amaj7 belongs to C# minor, E major, F# minor and A major.
Contains Amaj7 and adds ninth, eleventh and thirteenth.
Contains Amaj7 and adds ninth, sharp eleventh and thirteenth.
The common shapes and the derived voicings come from different places, and both are explained in how this site is built.
Shows each chord the way this style would voice it, and marks which of its alternatives belong to the idiom.