major seventh chord

British  

noun

1. Often shortened to: major seventh.  a chord much used in modern music, esp jazz and pop, consisting of a major triad with an added major seventh above the root Compare minor seventh chord

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Example Sentences

Wood taught him functional music theory, like how singer-songwriters depended so much on the major seventh chord, or what made the songs of, say, Dan Fogelberg or Elton John tick.

From Washington Post

In “Like Someone in Love,” it starts in the sixth bar of the verse, where the melody goes down a step, is enfolded in the sugary embrace of a major seventh chord, climbs up a sixth, and descends a step again.

From The New Yorker

Gene is whining a filthy, innuendo-laden lament to the fact that all the old dance styles are out of fashion, when suddenly the band’s trumpet player starts screaming out the top note of a major seventh chord, which never stops.

From The Guardian

Delicately scored for piano, harp and string quintet, Nyman's piece derives its insistent motor rhythm from the song's piano accompaniment and its harmonic structure from Schumann's distinctive use of the major seventh chord.

From Time Magazine Archive