Minor key music can be intimidatingly complex for beginners to navigate due to its use of chords based on different triads with varied seventh interval qualities, making identification of individual chords challenging and memorizing names of chords with specific characteristics challenging. To effectively use minor key music it’s necessary to memorize their names as well as their qualities if you want to succeed!
One such minor chord with major 7th is known as the James Bond Chord; this dissonant dissonant chord features both a minor third and major seventh notes that produce dissonance.
It is a tonic chord
Minor major 7th chords are formed by adding a flattened seventh interval to a minor triad, one fret below the major third of its root note and two frets beneath its major 7th of bass note. These chords often serve as tonic chords because their less dissonant sound makes them easier to use as tonic chords than major triads.
This chord has become known as the James Bond chord due to its smooth and cool sound, making it popularly used by composer Bernard Hermann in Hitchcock film Psycho. Understanding it will teach you about the ways interval qualities affect both its function and quality of a chord.
Minor chords rely heavily on their third and seventh intervals to maintain stability, width, and tone – these qualities determine whether a minor chord functions as tonic, dominant, or triad and understanding how they function will give you greater insight into scales and harmony.
It is a tertian chord
Minor major seventh chords fall under the category of tertian chords as they rely on third intervals to build them up. Any chord with three or more notes that is composed from stacking thirds falls within this class of harmony; other types include suspended and quartal chords.
These chords differ from traditional minor 7th chords in that they tend to remain static rather than dynamic, adding an undertone of darkness to music and serving as the basis for lines descending downward from the tonic. They’re especially prevalent in jazz music and can be heard on songs like My Funny Valentine by Irving Berlin.
Chord extensions are an integral component of tertian chords family and can be distinguished by their qualities such as quality, stability, width, tonal function and chord symbol. Chord extensions are traditionally named by their triad type and seventh type relative to their roots – for instance C13 represents a diminished triad with minor seventh chord tone above its root.
It is a dominant chord
The minor major seventh chord is an extremely versatile chord used as the dominant chord for many genres of music. With its warm sound and widespread usage in classical pieces such as Debussy’s “Claire De Lune,” as well as jazz and soul styles of contemporary music – its popularity can’t be denied!
A seventh chord’s quality is determined by its interval between root and third tone (called its class), while minor major seventh chords have three tones that form an interval of three between their notes that defines its class. A minor major seventh chord with three tones constitutes a tertian chord because this distance between tones forms its class.
This chord, often called a major-minor seventh chord, contains both a minor triad and major seventh. It’s an effective way to add tension to music and resolve cadences; additionally, its use in major keys creates bluesy sounds – as evidenced by Wayne Shorter’s tune Footprints using this type of chord.
It is a modal chord
When playing modal chords, it is essential to understand the differences between major 7th and minor 7th chords. A major 7th is a major triad with a major seventh interval between its third and fifth notes; conversely a minor 7th is a minor triad featuring an interval from its second to fifth notes – making a distinction that should not be overlooked!
These chords can be used to produce various sounds and effects. For instance, playing a minor major 7th chord with a major 9 to form a minor 13 chord can add brightness and dissonance to its sound; this style is frequently employed in jazz as well as movies like Hitchcock’s Psycho.
Note that it is crucial to remember that the minor major 7th cannot be played on B Locrian due to its tritone interval (B-F). This creates tension that needs resolving inward or outward by half steps – something which cannot work within the confines of mode.