The bmaj7 piano chord is an extremely useful chord to have at your disposal in many musical genres. Comprised of notes B, D#, F# and A# it provides an essential building block of sound for many genres of music.
This chord shape is ideal for picking style guitar playing. Just be sure to mute both open A and high E strings!
Key of B
The bmaj7 piano chord is a major seventh chord with its root note set to B, composed of notes B, D#, F# and A#. Major seventh chords can be found across musical genres such as jazz, R&B and neo-soul; you may recognize them from songs such as Michael Jackson’s “PYT” to Stevie Wonder’s “Isn’t She Lovely.”
To play the bmaj7 chord, place your index finger on the 2nd fret of the 5th (A) string and your middle finger on the 4th fret of the 4th (D) string. Strum only the fifth, fourth, and third strings with your left hand; or for an advanced version use barre chords on all six strings for an expanded sound that requires greater concentration to play successfully.
For any funk or soul song, it is virtually a requirement that all chord progressions include at least one major 7 chord – as too minor chords can become bland and disengaging! To add some excitement and variety, consider expanding all major chords with extensions like sus2, add9 etc!
Play this shape using an open a-string while muting the low e-string to give an open and dissonant sound ideal for picking style guitar playing! This adds another voicing option!
This is one of the most commonly utilized maj7 shapes for guitar. This chord can be extremely useful to any musician playing in B, particularly jazz and neo-soul music where its presence adds extra spice. Furthermore, its inversions offer even greater musical versatility; we will show some examples below.
Scale
The Bmaj7 chord is a major seventh chord, meaning it consists of a major triad with its major third (D#) and perfect fifth (F#).
To play a Bmaj7 chord, it is necessary to have knowledge of the notes found within the B major scale. These include B, C#, D#, E, F# G# A#; you can find a chart showing all these notes here and giving their names along with visual representation of this scale.
Dependent upon the key of your song, there may be various variations of this chord you could use. A popular option is playing this chord using a barre chord; to do this simply place your index finger over all six frets (barre) of four of the first strings (four string chord). Next strum only the fifth, fourth, third and second string for an impressive sound!
Another option is to play this chord using a power chord technique. To do this, place your thumb at the back of the neck before positioning your index finger at the 2nd fret of the 5th string; middle finger on 3rd fret of 4th string; ring finger at 1st fret of 2nd string – this gives a powerful yet thick sound which works well with many types of music!
The maj7 chord has long been known as the mother chord due to its frequent use in almost every genre of music, from R&B and jazz, through soul, neo-soul, and even R&B songs like Michael Jackson’s “PYT” or Stevie Wonder’s “Isn’t She Lovely”.
The major seventh chord (maj7), also known as diatonic seventh chord, combines tonic, dominant, and subdominant chords from each key into one cohesive unit – making it an invaluable asset to have available when playing music in any key. Furthermore, its use adds tension to your music when adding drama and vibrancy.
Intervals
The bmaj7 piano chord is a four-note composition featuring B, D#, F# and A# notes. This chord can be played either with just your left hand or both hands simultaneously; in this tutorial we will use just our right hands; we will employ fingerings of little finger, middle finger, index finger and thumb (left hand) or little finger, ring finger index finger and thumb (right hand) in accordance with either version.
Bmaj7 chord is a major seventh chord, comprising of root, major third and perfect fifth notes from the major scale. However, unlike its regular counterpart, it also includes the major 7th interval which lies half step away from its root note – this section of music does not form part of its triadic structure.
Since it has such a powerful sound, major seventh chords are frequently employed in major key progressions to add tension to their music. Furthermore, this chord type can also be utilized within major blues progressions for maximum impact.
As such, the bmaj7 chord is incredibly versatile, and can be utilized across various musical genres and styles. To play it properly and to transition smoothly between its components – something which requires practice and muscle memory to achieve.
To enhance your ability to switch between the different parts of a bmaj7 chord, practice playing it using various strumming patterns. For instance, try switching between eighth note and syncopated rhythms – this will develop muscle memory and enhance overall coordination.
Muting exercises are another great way to practice playing this chord, as this teaches you the muting technique which enables you to mute both open a string and low e string to produce clean sounding guitar chords – an indispensable skill for rhythm guitar players!
The bmaj7 guitar chord is easy to learn and sounds good in almost all settings, making it ideal for songs requiring major sound or as solo chord. Furthermore, its simplicity makes it suitable for beginners trying out chords on guitar.
Inversions
As part of playing major seventh chords, it’s essential to familiarize yourself with their various inversions in order to build chords more efficiently and expand improvisational options. Let’s examine a Bmaj7 chord in its root position for starters.
To invert a chord, simply move its root note up an octave – this will create a different version that sounds similar but has a distinct feel – this process is called inversion and can add depth and complexity to chord progressions.
As shown in the diagram below, there are three inversions of a Bmaj7 chord: root position with notes B, D# and F#; second inversion consisting of identical notes but with an F# tone added in bass; thirdly we have another inversion that replaces F# tone with A# note; the resultant chord is known as half diminished 7th chord.
One intriguing chord variation you should try is a dominant 7th with an added minor seventh. This technique is frequently employed as a secondary dominant, leading directly into a ii or iv chord progression; alternatively, it can serve as an chromatic mediant that harmonizes with sixth step chord progressions.
When improvising over major 7th chords, try using upper structure polychords. This technique involves playing both top notes of a major seventh chord as well as root note from an accompanying minor seventh chord beneath them simultaneously for an enhanced sound that can make for powerful melodies!
As you practice bmaj7 piano chords, be mindful to focus on the clarity and tone of each note as you practice them. Experimenting with different strumming patterns will also help develop muscle memory and facilitate transitioning seamlessly between chords during songs.