BY KATE KOENIG
Invite to the newest installment of Chord by Chord, a series developed to build your understanding of consistency and the fretboard. In the last lesson I revealed you a new seventh chord type, the major seventh, and how to get to Cmaj7 from C major. This time I’ll do the same thing, but with Gmaj7 and G significant.
The Work
Bear in mind that in order to make a major seventh chord, you just take a significant triad and put the significant seventh on top. So when it comes to Gmaj7, begin with a G major triad (G B D), which is displayed in Example 1, and add the major seventh (F#) (Example 2).
Example 3 programs reveal to make Gmaj7 from an open G chord. Keep in mind that on the Gmaj7 chord, it’s finest to leave out the third (B) on string 5, fret 2, as it can type of muddy things up. Example 4a offers us a Gmaj7 chord built off a third-position G chord. We’re playing simply the bottom 4 strings on this Gmaj7, as using all six strings would sound a little weird. You can likewise leave out the D on the 5th string, for a tighter noise. In Example 4b, you’ll find a Gmaj7 chord based on the top four strings of a third-position G chord.
The G significant shape in Example 5 is a bit unusual, at least in popular music, but the Gmaj7 chord that follows is not. Example 6 provides a number of shapes in tenth position. This Gmaj7 voicing might be more quickly played by eliminating the D on string 1, fret 10– and with it the need for a barre. Finally, in Example 7 we have actually a tightly voiced Gmaj7 that’s ideal for jazz however can also be used anywhere.
The Result
You ought to now know how to make a Gmaj7 chord from different G major shapes. A song that makes excellent usage of the open Gmaj7 shape is James Taylor’s “Fire and Rain,” which is played with a capo at the third fret. We’ll continue exploring the significant seventh chord in the next lesson, converting D chord to Dmaj7.
