Gmaj7 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 Gmaj7 — shell voicings
Gmaj7 is G, B, D and F# — G with the major seventh added on top.
It sounds lush, and only just resolved. The everyday tonic of jazz, bossa and neo-soul.
Gmaj7 notes and formula
| G | B | D | F# |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 5 | 7 |
Tonic — a resting chord, but a soft one.
Also written GM7, GΔ7, GΔ, Gma7 or G major 7. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play Gmaj7
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.
Gmaj7 has 4 of them, on the bottom three strings, the low-middle three, strings 6-4-3 and strings 5-3-2, from the 2nd fret up to the 10th — all in one inversion, so the bass note never moves. The one to learn first is the G shape at the 2nd fret, which is the easiest grip here.
Start with 320002 — no barre and 3 open strings. 1 of the 8 shapes here sits in open position. 4 of the 8 need a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 2nd fret to the 14th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 320002 | open position | G, root position | F# | 3 open strings |
| 354433 | 3rd fret | G, root position | G | barred |
| xx5777 | 5th fret | G, root position | B | barred |
| x-10-9-7-7-7 | 7th fret | G, root position | B | barred |
| x-10-9-11-8-x | 8th fret | G, root position | G | all fretted |
| x-10-12-11-12-10 | 10th fret | G, root position | D | all fretted |
| x-x-x-12-12-14 | 12th fret | G, root position | F# | all fretted |
| x-x-12-12-12-14 | 12th fret | D, 2nd inversion | F# | barred |
The same notes rebuilt from scratch give 14 drop 2, 10 drop 3 and 6 open string voicings, each on its own page.
Tensions. A shell of Gmaj7, root, third and seventh, leaves a string free, and the tones that belong over it are the 9 (A), the #11 (C#) and the 13 (E).
How to use Gmaj7
How you get to it. The turn that lands on Gmaj7 is Am7 to D7 — the ii and the V of G — and D7 shares its third and seventh with Am7, so the hand barely moves between them.
In which keys. Every note of Gmaj7 belongs to D major (the IV, the subdominant), E minor (the ♭III), G major (the I, the tonic) and B minor (the ♭VI).
What to play over Gmaj7
Every note of Gmaj7 is in G major and G lydian.
Chords near Gmaj7
Change one note of Gmaj7 and you have G (drop the major seventh), Gmaj7b5 (the fifth becomes a flat fifth), Gmaj7#5 (the fifth becomes a sharp fifth), Gmaj9 (add the ninth), GmMaj7 (the major third becomes a minor third) or Gadd9 (the major seventh becomes a ninth).
Gmaj7 is a major chord — root, major third, fifth. Major chords on every root.
On Gmaj7’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.