Tag Archives: maj7 chords

Maj7 Chords

How To Use Maj7 Chords As Amazing Substitutions

Maj7 chords have a great open yet resolved sound, but even if they sound very much at rest you can easily use them in some very interesting chord substitution concepts.

In this video, I am going to show you some of the great sounding chord progressions you can make using maj7 chords in chord substitution, and later in the video, I am going to show you how changing one note in the voicing gives you a lot more beautiful sounds.

Get the PDF on Patreon

You can get the PDF and the GuitarPro files for these examples through my Patreon page here:

 

Content:

0:00 Intro – Maj7 Chords for reharmonization

0:39 Tonal and Chromatic

0:50 bVImaj7 – Borrowing from minor in major

1:41 Using it on a few Jazz Standards

2:47 bIImaj7 – The Neapolitan Subdominant

4:01 Finding a scale for the chord

4:28 How to use it on a few Songs

6:09 Chromatic maj7 chords #1

6:54 Chromatic approach #2 

7:28 Maj7(b5) Chords (and a little disclaimer)

8:58 Maj7(b5) as an Altered dominant

9:48 Maj7(b5) as a Backdoor dominant

10:28 Like the video? Check out my Patreon page

57 Ways To Play a Cmaj7 with a G in the melody

Exploring the Fretboard and the options you have for chords is a great exercise. This video takes one melody note and one chord and I go through 57 maj7 chords and show you how I come up with voicings, how I listen to harmony and think about the chords.

This video is a bit of an experiment, but exercises like this are very very useful for developing your fretboard knowledge, your taste in harmony and your understanding of chords and how they sound.

Content:

0:00 Intro

0:46 Three Note Voicings (12)

3:47 The importance of exploring and experimenting in Practice

4:39 Spread Triad (9)

6:15 A Few Thoughts on Range and in which octave you put notes

6:54 Drop2 and Derived Voicings (13)

9:52 Drop3 Voicings(10)

12:10 Drop2&3 (5)

13:29 Drop2&4 Voicings (8)

15:36 Hear Voicings, understand chords better.

16:16 Weird Messiaen voicing

16:35 How you work with this and what you learn

16:59 Like the video? Check out my Patreon Page.

Get a free E-book

If you want to download a Free E-book of 15 II Valt I licks then subscribe to my newsletter:

Get the PDF!

The PDF with examples for this video is available through Patreon. You can check out my Patreon Page here: https://www.patreon.com/jenslarsen

Jazz Guitar Insiders Facebook Group

Join 1500+ Other Jazz Guitarists 🎸Join us in the Facebook Jazz Guitar Group Community: http://bit.ly/InsidersFBGroup

If you have any questions, comments or suggestions for topics then please let me know. Leave a comment on the video or send me an e-mail. That is the best way for me to improve my lessons and make them fit what you are searching for.

Please subscribe to my YouTube channel and feel free to connect with me via Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook to keep up to date with new lessons, concerts, and releases.

3 Unusual Maj7 Chords And How To Use Them

You want to have different choices when it comes to chords, also Maj7 chords. There is no need to play the same things all the time.

In this video, I am going to show you voicings and lines that demonstrate how you can use some other sounds on maj7th chords. Often we only focus on what to play on the V chord, but there are some really great sounds to explore when it comes to the good old (boring?) maj7 chord.

This will really help you add some more ideas and sounds to your vocabulary, whether you are using it for soloing, composing or arranging.

Content:

0:00 Intro
0:37 You Need Maj7th chords for everything
0:53 Example #1 – Maj7(13#5)
1:02 Lydian Augmented with a Twist
1:24 Understanding this Chord
2:00 Creating the Voicing and using it
2:28 Example #2 a line using this sound
2:36 Stealing an idea from Rosenwinkel
2:57 A great Triad Pair
3:21 Example #3 – Maj7(#9#11)
3:30 Modern Jazz or is it?
3:55 The Maj7(#9#11) – A polychord
4:05 Constructing the Chord Voicing
4:32 The Chord Progression
4:54 Example #4 – Placing it in a Scale5:03 Assigning a Scale to the Chord
5:17 Using the Poly-Chord as a triad pair
6:14 Example #5 – Synthetic Maj7th Chords: Maj7(#5#9)
6:24 Augmented Scale Chords
6:41 The Chord and the Progression
7:07 Chord Voicing and interpretation
7:16 Example #6 –  
7:24 A Basic II V resolving to a weird I chord
7:50 The 3 Magic Triads in the Augmented Scale
8:17 Like the video? Check out my Patreon Page!

Check out this lesson for more information on The Augmented Scale:

Get a free E-book

If you want to download a Free E-book of 15 II Valt I licks then subscribe to my newsletter:

Get the PDF!

The PDF with examples for this video is available through Patreon. You can check out my Patreon Page here: https://www.patreon.com/jenslarsen

Jazz Guitar Insiders Facebook Group

Join 1500+ Other Jazz Guitarists 🎸Join us in the Facebook Jazz Guitar Group Community: http://bit.ly/InsidersFBGroup

If you have any questions, comments or suggestions for topics then please let me know. Leave a comment on the video or send me an e-mail. That is the best way for me to improve my lessons and make them fit what you are searching for.

Please subscribe to my YouTube channel and feel free to connect with me via Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook to keep up to date with new lessons, concerts, and releases.

Maj7 Chords – 7 Great Solo ideas!

Maj7 Chords are one of the most important tonic chord types. This video will show you 7 different ideas that you can use when improvising over Maj7 chords. The concepts I cover are using different arpeggio types, triad pairs and super-imposed pentatonic scales both common and more exotic.

Content of the video

0:00 Intro – Maj7 Chords and ideas

1:18 Example 1 – Solo

1:40 Interesting versions of Cmaj7 and Em7 arpeggios

2:29 Using arpeggios and making them less boring

3:38 Example 2 – Solo

4:04 Pentatonic scale from the 3rd of the chord

4:34 Different sounds from different phrasings

5:05 Less Rock/Blues sounding ideas

5:58 Example 3 – Solo

6:23 Triad pairs: G & Am

6:54 Analyzed relative to the C root

7:27 Melodic approach from triad pairs and that specific sound

8:23 Example 4 – Quartal Arpeggios

8:48 The “new” sound of Quartal melodies in a solo

9:17 two ways to check them out over a chord

9:50 Some technical ideas for playing quartal arpeggios

10:53 Example 5 – Solo

11:16 Am6 pentatonic – Robben Ford on a Maj7 chord

11:50 Constructing an Am6 pentatonic scale

12:35 Simple ideas from this type of phrasing.

12:55 Example 6 – Solo

13:20 Am & Bm – Lydian Triad pair.

13:57 Phrasing using Spread Triads and inversions

14:43 Example of a line using the triad pairs

14:58 Example 7 – Solo

15:22 Emaj(b6) Pentatonic scale on a Cmaj7 chord

15:42 Where it comes from

16:15 How to construct and play the Emaj(b6) Penta scale.

17:07 Phrasing and making lines with the scale

17:40 Do you have other good suggestions you like to use? Leave a comment!

18:32 Like the video? Check out my Patreon Page!