Dmaj7 guitar chord
Root, third and seventh: the guide tones fix the quality, so the fifth is dropped. That is what leaves a string free, so pick a tension to put on top.
- Tap a note to hear it
- Arrows change position
- Fingers, notes or intervals
- Play the chord
About Dmaj7 — shell voicings
Dmaj7 is D, F#, A and C# — D with the major seventh added on top.
It sounds lush, and only just resolved. The everyday tonic of jazz, bossa and neo-soul.
Dmaj7 notes and formula
| D | F# | A | C# |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 5 | 7 |
Tonic — a resting chord, but a soft one.
Also written DM7, DΔ7, DΔ, Dma7 or D major 7. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play Dmaj7
Root, third and seventh. The third and seventh, the guide tones, are what make the chord major, minor or dominant, so the fifth can go: it says nothing the symbol needs.
Three notes means a spare string, which is the real point. Put a tension on it.
Dmaj7 has 4 of them, on the low-middle three, the bottom three strings, strings 5-3-2 and strings 6-4-3, from the 4th fret up to the 10th — all in one inversion, so the bass note never moves. The one to learn first is the D shape at the 4th fret, which is the easiest grip here.
Start with xxx779 — no barre and only 3 fretted notes. 1 of the 8 shapes here sits in open position. 5 of the 8 need a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 2nd fret to the 14th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| xx0222 | open position | D, root position | F# | barred |
| x54222 | 2nd fret | D, root position | F# | barred |
| x5463x | 3rd fret | D, root position | D | all fretted |
| x57675 | 5th fret | D, root position | A | all fretted |
| xxx779 | 7th fret | D, root position | C# | all fretted |
| xx7779 | 7th fret | A, 2nd inversion | C# | barred |
| 10-12-11-11-10-10 | 10th fret | D, root position | D | barred |
| x-x-12-14-14-14 | 12th fret | D, root position | F# | barred |
The same notes rebuilt from scratch give 13 drop 2, 9 drop 3 and 6 open string voicings, each on its own page.
Tensions. A shell of Dmaj7, root, third and seventh, leaves a string free, and the tones that belong over it are the 9 (E), the #11 (G#) and the 13 (B).
How to use Dmaj7
How you get to it. The turn that lands on Dmaj7 is Em7 to A7 — the ii and the V of D — and A7 shares its third and seventh with Em7, so the hand barely moves between them.
In which keys. Every note of Dmaj7 belongs to D major (the I, the tonic), F# minor (the ♭VI), A major (the IV, the subdominant) and B minor (the ♭III).
What to play over Dmaj7
Every note of Dmaj7 is in D major and D lydian.
Chords near Dmaj7
Change one note of Dmaj7 and you have D (drop the major seventh), Dmaj7b5 (the fifth becomes a flat fifth), Dmaj7#5 (the fifth becomes a sharp fifth), Dmaj9 (add the ninth), DmMaj7 (the major third becomes a minor third) or Dadd9 (the major seventh becomes a ninth).
Dmaj7 is a major chord — root, major third, fifth. Major chords on every root.
On Dmaj7’s sound and use this page follows Mark Levine, The Jazz Theory Book (Sher Music, 1995). The shapes and the derived voicings come from different places, and both are explained in where the chords and the theory come from.