Amaj7 electric guitar chord

Amaj7 (A major seventh) is built from A, C#, E and G#, the degrees 1–3–5–7. On electric guitar, the main shape is x 0 2 1 2 0, the first diagram, marked with the star.

You know the hotel-lobby pianist, playing so nobody leaves? This is their chord. Amaj7 is your regular A with the window open — same house, more air. Give the audio below a listen and notice how it asks you to stay.

Hear Amaj7 before you play

Why Amaj7 sounds this way

Here's the curious part: G#, the new note, lives a half step from A — that close, it should grind. And it does. But C# and E hold the room, so the grind turns into shimmer instead of a fight. Play the arpeggio again, no rush all the way to the last note and wait: you'll feel the spark without the fire. It's tension, domesticated — which is why it sounds expensive.

How to play Amaj7 on electric guitar

On the electric guitar a chord needs only a few clear notes — the amp sustains them and fills the space, so you mute the strings you are not playing and let the tone carry the rest. So go with the first position below — 2 open strings as a bonus; it's the main shape — that's why it carries the ⭐. Then do the before-and-after: A, then Amaj7. The second is the first one after sunset. Run it a few times: this chord tends to feel odd on the first pass and addictive by the third.

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Higher up the neck this chord becomes comping carpet — the kind of sound that flatters any voice on top. Positions are right below.

Amaj7 notes and degrees

Amaj7 stacks the root A, the major third C#, the perfect fifth E and the major seventh G#.

Where Amaj7 shows up

Across keys, Amaj7 works as VImaj7 in C# minor, IVmaj7 in E major, IIImaj7 in F# minor — almost always the deluxe I or the elegant IV. It was bossa nova's signature and became the world's: today it shows up from jazz to indie without asking permission.

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Where Amaj7 usually goes

Treating Amaj7 as the home chord (I) of its key, it tends to go toward the pre-dominant (Bm / D) or the dominant (E / G#°), and the dominant pulls back home. It's a tendency, not a law.

Going beyond Amaj7

For improvising, A Ionian (A B C# D E F# G# · 1 2 3 4 5 6 7: the plain major scale, where everything starts); A Lydian (A B C# D# E F# G# · 1 2 3 #4 5 6 7: the major scale with a raised fourth — one extra step of daydream); A Lydian ♯2 (A B# C# D# E F# G# · 1 #2 3 #4 5 6 7: a lydian with a raised second, harmonic-major color) wrap the whole chord. And the jazz shapes at the end are the same four notes spread across the neck, for the day you want to sound like an arranger.

Scales to improvise over Amaj7

To improvise over Amaj7 as home, the A Ionian scale fits entirely: it contains every note of the chord. The best fit depends on the key, the surrounding chords and the tensions you want. And when the dominant (E) pulls back, the leading tone Ab is the note that wants to resolve home.

Swaps that work:

• F#m7F#m7F#m7F#m7 — Relative minor (vi) — same tonic function
• C#m7C#m7C#m7C#m7 — Mediant (iii) — tonic function

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Amaj7 jazz voicings

Jazz Lab: Drop 2 voicings in any key, free; drop 3 and shell are part of Pro · use it in Chord and Fret

If at some point you want the ground back, it's one click away: A without the seventh. The house hasn't moved.

Updated October 20, 2026