Major Seventh Chords

Let’s look at how to play an F sharp major 7 chord on the piano. We’ll also learn the pattern for building any other major seventh chord.

What Are Major Seventh Chords?

Major Seventh chords are major chords with an added note. The added note is the seventh note of the matching major scale.

So to build a major seventh chord, we’ll start by building a major chord. We can build a major chord using the first, third and fifth notes of the matching major scale.

Then to convert the major chord into a major seventh chord, we’ll add the seventh note of the matching major scale.

Chord Types Printable

Learn to play 17 types of piano chords using 12 different root notes with this 35-page PDF! Chords are sorted both by their root note and type.

Get the Printable

How to Play an F Sharp Major 7 Chord

Now let’s build an F sharp major 7 chord on the piano. We’ll start by building an F sharp major chord using the first, third and fifth notes of the F sharp major scale: F♯ – A♯ – C♯

Then we’ll add the seventh note of the F sharp major scale to the chord: E♯

You may be wondering why we would label this note as E♯ instead of F. The reason is because we are using the notes of the F sharp major scale to build this chord, and in the F sharp major scale the seventh note is labeled E♯.

So to play an F sharp major 7 chord, we’ll play:

F♯ – A♯ – C♯ – E♯

We can use this pattern to build any other major seventh chord. We’ll first build a major chord using the first, third and fifth notes of the matching major scale. Then we’ll find the seventh note of the scale and add it to the chord.

Chord Fingering

To play this chord with the right hand, we can use fingers 1 – 2 – 3 – 5. To play this chord with the left hand, we can use fingers 5 – 3 – 2 – 1 (thumbs are 1’s).

Other Seventh Chords

Since there are different types of seventh chords, it can be helpful to compare their differences:

Seventh chords are major chords with an added note. The added note is the seventh note of the matching major scale, lowered 1/2 step.

So an F sharp 7 chord is:

F♯ – A♯ – C♯ – E

Major seventh chords are major chords with an added note. The added note is the seventh note of the matching major scale.

So an F sharp major 7 chord is:

F♯ – A♯ – C♯ – E♯

Minor seventh chords are minor chords with an added note. The added note is the seventh note of the matching major scale, lowered 1/2 step.

So an F sharp minor seventh chord is:

F♯ – A – C♯ – E

Other Chord Types

Some of the other chord types we can learn are:

Major
Minor
Augmented
Diminished
Second
Minor Second
Suspended
Fifth
Sixth
Minor Sixth
Seventh
Minor Seventh
Ninth
Minor Ninth
Major Ninth

Conclusion

Now you know how to play an F sharp major 7 chord on the piano, and you can use this knowledge to build any other major seventh chord!

Using chords at the piano is a wonderful way to enjoy and create music, since the patterns used to build chords can be repeated, starting on any note!