CadenzaA minor-major seventh
Am(maj7)
Also written AmM7 · A−Δ7 · Amin(maj7)
A minor triad with a major 7th — the tonic of harmonic and melodic minor, and the sound of film noir. It lives in the line cliché Am → Am(maj7) → Am7 → Am6, where one voice falls a semitone at a time.
How pianists voice Am(maj7)
Nobody plays a jazz chord in root position. These are the shapes that actually get played — the same ones Cadenza shows when you play the chord.
Shell Left hand
1 · ♭3 · 7 — root, 3rd and 7th: the three notes that say what the chord is. Left hand, low; everything else is colour.
Rootless A From the 3rd
♭3 · 5 · 7 · 9 — no root: the bass player has it. The left-hand voicing of modern jazz piano. Without A underneath, the same keys read as Cmaj7(♯5) — the bass turns them into Am(maj7).
Rootless B From the 7th
7 · 9 · ♭3 · 5 — the other half of the pair. A and B alternate through a ii–V–I so the hand barely moves.
Drop 2 Two hands
5 · 1 · ♭3 · 7 — close position with the second voice from the top dropped an octave: wider, warmer, the standard for chord melody.
Am(maj7) inversions
The same 4 notes with a different one in the bass. Each inversion is written as a slash chord.
Root position Am(maj7)
Root at the bottom, stacked in 3rds: 1 · ♭3 · 5 · 7.
1st inversion Am(maj7)/C
C (the ♭3) in the bass: ♭3 · 5 · 7 · 1.
2nd inversion Am(maj7)/E
E (the 5) in the bass: 5 · 7 · 1 · ♭3.
3rd inversion Am(maj7)/G♯
G♯ (the 7) in the bass: 7 · 1 · ♭3 · 5.
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