In
music
Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspe ...
, an augmented major seventh chord or major seventh sharp five chord is a
seventh chord
A seventh chord is a chord consisting of a triad plus a note forming an interval of a seventh above the chord's root. When not otherwise specified, a "seventh chord" usually means a dominant seventh chord: a major triad together with a mi ...
composed of a
root
In vascular plants, the roots are the organs of a plant that are modified to provide anchorage for the plant and take in water and nutrients into the plant body, which allows plants to grow taller and faster. They are most often below the su ...
,
major third
In classical music, a third is a Interval (music), musical interval encompassing three staff positions (see Interval (music)#Number, Interval number for more details), and the major third () is a third spanning four semitones.Allen Forte, ...
,
augmented fifth
In classical music from Western culture, an augmented fifth () is an interval produced by widening a perfect fifth by a chromatic semitone.Benward & Saker (2003). ''Music: In Theory and Practice, Vol. I'', p.54. . For instance, the interval f ...
, and
major seventh
In music from Western culture, a seventh is a musical interval encompassing seven staff positions (see Interval number for more details), and the major seventh is one of two commonly occurring sevenths. It is qualified as ''major'' because it i ...
(1, 3, 5, 7). It can be viewed as an
augmented triad
Augment or augmentation may refer to:
Language
* Augment (Indo-European), a syllable added to the beginning of the word in certain Indo-European languages
*Augment (Bantu languages), a morpheme that is prefixed to the noun class prefix of nouns ...
with an additional major seventh. When using
popular-music symbols, it is denoted by aug
M7, +
M7, +
7, M
75, M
7(5), M
7/5, M
7+5, maj+
7, +
7, etc. For example, the augmented major seventh chord built on C, written as Caug
M7, has pitches C–E–G–B:
:
The chord can be represented by the
integer notation
In music, a pitch class (p.c. or pc) is a set of all pitches that are a whole number of octaves apart; for example, the pitch class C consists of the Cs in all octaves. "The pitch class C stands for all possible Cs, in whatever octave posit ...
.
The augmented major seventh chord is associated with the
augmented scale
In music and music theory, a hexatonic scale is a scale with six pitches or notes per octave. Famous examples include the whole-tone scale, C D E F G A C; the augmented scale, C D E G A B C; the Prometheus scale, C D E F A B C; and the blues s ...
(see
jazz scale
A jazz scale is any musical scale used in jazz. Many "jazz scales" are common scales drawn from Western European classical music, including the diatonic, whole-tone, octatonic (or diminished), and the modes of the ascending melodic minor. All ...
and
chord-scale system
The chord-scale system is a method of matching, from a list of possible chords, a list of possible scales.Mervyn Cooke, David Horn (2003). '' The Cambridge companion to jazz'', p.266. . The system has been widely used since the 1970s and is "gen ...
). This chord also comes from the third mode of both the
harmonic minor
In music theory, the minor scale is three scale patterns – the natural minor scale (or Aeolian mode), the harmonic minor scale, and the melodic minor scale (ascending or descending) – rather than just two as with the major scale, which also ...
and the
melodic minor
In music theory, the minor scale is three scale patterns – the natural minor scale (or Aeolian mode), the harmonic minor scale, and the melodic minor scale (ascending or descending) – rather than just two as with the major scale, which al ...
scales. For example, the third
mode
Mode ( la, modus meaning "manner, tune, measure, due measure, rhythm, melody") may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* '' MO''D''E (magazine)'', a defunct U.S. women's fashion magazine
* ''Mode'' magazine, a fictional fashion magazine which is ...
of the A melodic minor scale outlines an augmented major seventh chord, as shown below.
:
As with
dominant seventh chords,
nondominant seventh chords including the augmented major seventh usually progress according to the
circle
A circle is a shape consisting of all points in a plane that are at a given distance from a given point, the centre. Equivalently, it is the curve traced out by a point that moves in a plane so that its distance from a given point is con ...
, thus III+
M7 resolves to vi or
VI.
[Benward & Saker (2003), p.232.] For example, in the key of A minor, C maj
75 usually resolves to F.
Augmented major seventh chord table
:
See also
*
Jazz chord
Jazz chords are chords, chord voicings and chord symbols that jazz musicians commonly use in composition, improvisation, and harmony. In jazz chords and theory, most triads that appear in lead sheets or fake books can have sevenths added to the ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Augmented Major Seventh Chord
Seventh chords