Cm(maj7) — C minor major seventh chord
A minor triad with a major seventh added. The interval between the minor third and the major seventh is a major third and the interval between the seventh and the root is a semitone, so the chord is unstable.
- 1 = C
- b3 = Eb
- 5 = G
- 7 = B
- Symbol
- Cm(maj7)
- Root
- C
- Quality
- Minor major seventh
- Family
- seventh
- Notes
- C Eb G B
- Degree formula
1 b3 5 7- Semitones from the root
0 3 7 11- Distinct pitch classes
- 4
- Interval structure
- Stacked from the root: 3 semitones, 4 semitones, 4 semitones
- Notation
- Written m(maj7), mMaj7 or m♯7. The tonic chord of the melodic minor scale, and the chord a semitone below a new tonic in a minor cadence.
- Key
- C · C major / A minor key signature
Formula
The chord tones in order from the root, with the interval each one forms above it.
| Degree | Note | Semitones | Interval from the root |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | C | 0 | Perfect unison |
| b3 | Eb | 3 | Minor third |
| 5 | G | 7 | Perfect fifth |
| 7 | B | 11 | Major seventh |
Inversions
An inversion is the same set of notes with a different one in the bass. The last column gives the distance of each note above the bass note, in semitones.
| Inversion | Bass note | Degree in the bass | Notes above the bass | Semitones above the bass |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| root position | C | 1 | C – Eb – G – B | 0 3 7 11 |
| first inversion | Eb | b3 | Eb – G – B – C | 0 4 8 9 |
| second inversion | G | 5 | G – B – C – Eb | 0 4 5 8 |
| third inversion | B | 7 | B – C – Eb – G | 0 1 4 8 |
Playable voicings
These shapes were found by searching the fretboard of a standard-tuned guitar (E A D G B E) rather than copied from a chord book. The search allows every string to sound or to be muted, rejects any shape with a muted string between two sounding strings, rejects any shape whose fretted notes span more than four frets (a five-fret window), requires every chord tone to be present, and then sorts what remains with root-position shapes first and the most compact, lowest shapes next. The shapes shown are the first six of that ordering; other orderings are possible at the same frets.
| # | Shape (low string first) | Notes | Degrees | Bass | Span (frets) | Sounding strings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 8-10-9-8-8-8 | C G B D# G C | 1 5 7 b3 5 1 | C | 2 | 6 |
| 2 | 8-6-5-5-8-7 | C D# G C G B | 1 b3 5 1 5 7 | C | 3 | 6 |
| 3 | 8-6-5-8-8-7 | C D# G D# G B | 1 b3 5 b3 5 7 | C | 3 | 6 |
| 4 | 8-6-9-8-8-7 | C D# B D# G B | 1 b3 7 b3 5 7 | C | 3 | 6 |
| 5 | 8-6-9-8-8-8 | C D# B D# G C | 1 b3 7 b3 5 1 | C | 3 | 6 |
| 6 | 8-10-9-8-8-7 | C G B D# G B | 1 5 7 b3 5 7 | C | 3 | 6 |
Shape numbers run from the lowest string to the highest, so the left-hand number is the sixth string (low E) in standard tuning. Multiple shapes are listed because a chord can be voiced several ways, and because a lower position is not always the better sounding one.
Related chords and scales
- KeyEverything in C
- ScaleC melodic minor (ascending)
- ChordCm7
- ChordCm
Related
- KeyKey of C
- ScaleC melodic minor (ascending)
- ChordCm7 — Minor seventh
- ChordCm — Minor
- ChordCdim7 — Diminished seventh
- ChordC7 — Dominant seventh
- ChordCmaj7 — Major seventh
- DegreesC — degree map