EmMaj7 guitar chord
An open string left ringing against a fretted grip. Because it costs no finger, it sounds a note the closed shape has none left for -- a tension on top, or a pedal root underneath. Either a familiar grip with open strings added, or a shape so sparse the open strings carry the chord. These belong to their key rather than to a shape, so D, A, G and E have many and Eb a handful.
- Tap a note to hear it
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- Fingers, notes or intervals
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About EmMaj7 — open string voicings
EmMaj7 is E, G, B and D# — Em with the major seventh added on top.
It sounds tense and wrong-footed. A minor triad carrying a major seventh: the semitone under the root over a minor chord is the first bar of a line cliché.
EmMaj7 notes and formula
| E | G | B | D# |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ♭3 | 5 | 7 |
Minor tonic — the tonic of the melodic minor.
Also written EmM7, Em(maj7), E-Δ7 or EminMaj7. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play EmMaj7
An open string left ringing against a fretted grip. It costs no finger, so it can sound a note the closed shape has none left for: a tension on top, or a pedal root underneath.
These belong to their key rather than to a shape: they cannot be moved up the neck. D, A, G and E have many; E♭ has a handful.
EmMaj7 has 6 of them, on strings 6-5-4-3-2-1, strings 6-5-4-3-2, strings 5-4-3-2-1 and strings 6-4-3-2-1, from the 2nd fret up to the 6th — every inversion the chord has: E in the bass and D# in the bass. The one to learn first is the E shape at the 2nd fret, which is the easiest grip here.
Start with 021000 — no barre and 4 open strings. 2 of the 8 shapes here sit in open position. 1 of the 8 needs a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 1st fret to the 14th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 021000 | open position | E, root position | E | 4 open strings |
| 022443 | open position | E, root position | G | 1 open string |
| xx2443 | 2nd fret | E, root position | G | all fretted |
| x7544x | 4th fret | E, root position | D# | all fretted |
| x79887 | 7th fret | E, root position | B | all fretted |
| x-10-9-9-12-11 | 9th fret | G, 1st inversion | D# | all fretted |
| x-x-14-12-12-11 | 11th fret | E, root position | D# | all fretted |
| 12-14-13-12-12-12 | 12th fret | E, root position | E | barred |
The same notes rebuilt from scratch give 7 shell, 14 drop 2 and 9 drop 3 voicings, each on its own page.
Tensions. A shell of EmMaj7, root, third and seventh, leaves a string free, and the tones that belong over it are the 9 (F#), the 11 (A) and the 13 (C#).
How to use EmMaj7
How you get to it. The turn that lands on EmMaj7 is F#m7♭5 to B7♭9: the ii and the V of E minor, which is where a minor tonic is usually arrived at rather than simply begun on.
What to play over EmMaj7
Every note of EmMaj7 is in E harmonic minor and E melodic minor.
Chords near EmMaj7
Change one note of EmMaj7 and you have Em (drop the major seventh), Emaj7 (the minor third becomes a major third), Em6 (the major seventh becomes a sixth), Em7 (the major seventh becomes a flat seventh), EmMaj7b5 (the fifth becomes a flat fifth) or EmMaj9 (add the ninth).
EmMaj7 is a minor chord — root, minor third, fifth. Minor chords on every root.
On EmMaj7’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.