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The Amaj7 chord

Hear the Amaj7 and you hear soft, dreamy and unresolved, courtesy of the major seventh spelling (A - C# - E - G#). Players use it to voice a major chord without the brightness, which is why it turns up across the standards repertoire and most singer-songwriter cycles. The chord behind the dreamy verse of Sunday Morning by Maroon 5. Common voicings on guitar and piano, the theory in plain language, the progressions where the chord earns its place, and a list of real song references are all in the sections that follow.

Hear the Amaj7 in the chord builder →

Voicings for Amaj7

Common ways to grip the Amaj7 on guitar and piano. Guitar diagrams read low E to high E left-to-right; an × means muted, an open circle above the nut means an open string. Filled dots are fretted notes.

Guitar , full chord shapes

CAGED-derived voicings for Amaj7 across the neck. Pick the shape closest to where your hand already sits.

Guitar: Emaj7 shape at fr.5

Notes: A - C# - E - G# (chord tones)

Guitar: Amaj7 shape

Notes: A - C# - E - G# (chord tones)

Guitar: Dmaj7 shape at fr.7

Notes: A - C# - E - G# (chord tones)

Guitar: Cmaj7 shape at fr.9

Notes: A - C# - E - G# (chord tones)

Guitar: Gmaj7 shape at fr.2

Notes: A - C# - E - G# (chord tones)

Guitar , triad shapes

Three-note voicings on three adjacent strings. Light textures for arpeggios, pop layering and chord-melody work.

Triad: top-string triad

Notes: 3-note voicing on adjacent strings

Triad: middle-string triad

Notes: 3-note voicing on adjacent strings

Triad: bass-side triad

Notes: 3-note voicing on adjacent strings

Piano voicings

Root position and inversions. The bass note matters: each inversion changes how the chord sits under a melody.

Piano: root position

Notes: A - C# - E - G#. Root A at the bottom. The classic stacked-thirds spelling of a major seventh.

Piano: first inversion

Notes: C# - E - G# - A. C# at the bottom. Common in chord-melody, walking bass lines and gentler voicings.

Piano: second inversion

Notes: E - G# - A - C#. E at the bottom. A floating, suspended feel often used in hymns and ballads.

Piano: third inversion

Notes: G# - A - C# - E. G# at the bottom. The seventh in the bass , a smooth jazz favourite.

The theory behind Amaj7

Spell out the Amaj7 and you get A - C# - E - G#. The intervals from the root are root, major third, perfect fifth, major seventh, which is the recipe for a major seventh. In a closely related major key the chord plays the role of passing chord; in a closely related major key it shows up as passing chord. Its preferred next move is stay home, or relax sideways to the vi, which is what makes it useful in jazz and modern R&B.

Progressions that use Amaj7

Short progressions that put the Amaj7 to work. Each one is shown in a different key so you can pick the one that suits your singer.

I→IV→V key of C major

Amaj7 (as passing colour)

This chord appears as a borrowed or passing chord in many major-key progressions.

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Songs that feature Amaj7

Real records where this chord does structural work. No lyrics quoted, just the title and artist so you can pull up a copy and hear it in context.

Sunday Morning by Maroon 5. Amaj7 in the chorus harmony.
Drive by Incubus. Amaj7 in the song's gentle palette.
Norwegian Wood by The Beatles. Amaj7-like colour in the chord-melody style.

Related chords

Chords a step away from the Amaj7 in the songwriting circle, the natural neighbours when you want a substitution.

TriadA DomA7 m7Am7 NeighbourE NeighbourEm NeighbourE7 NeighbourD NeighbourDm

Keys where Amaj7 lives

The keys where this chord turns up diatonically. Open any key page for the full set of progressions that lean on it.

C major A minor

More songwriting tools

Got the chord but still wrestling with the lyric? Find the right rhyme in RhymeForge, or break a writer's block with the unexpected word-pair generator in CollisionLab. Need to map a full progression? The chord builder on the home page is where the Amaj7 fits into context. All free, no signup.

About the chord builder

The Undercover Zest chord progression builder is a free interactive tool that maps every diatonic and borrowed chord in every key. Click a Roman numeral to hear it, drag chords into a progression, then audition voicings, inversions and tensions until the song clicks.

This page is a static reference for the Amaj7. For interactive playback, voice-leading hints and substitution suggestions, open the chord builder above.