Minor Major 7 on Piano

What do minor major 7 sound like?

Beautiful and unsettling at once — a minor chord with one impossibly bright note. The "Hitchcock chord": velvet with a razor inside.

How are they built?

A minor triad plus a MAJOR 7th: root, ♭3, 5, 7. The major 7th a half step under the octave fights the minor 3rd — deliciously.

What is their job in a progression?

The tonic of the melodic and harmonic minor scales: when a minor key needs its own leading tone, im(maj7) is the chord that owns it. Also the classic line-cliché stop (Am → Am(maj7) → Am7).

Where you'll hear them

"Something" by The Beatles (the descending inner line), every noir and Bond score, and jazz ballads ending on a minor chord that refuses to be plain.

The beginner mistake

Voicing the major 7th next to the root in mid-register — the half-step clash overwhelms. Put the 7th on top, an octave-plus away from the root, and it turns from clash to glow.

Fingering logic

Identical frame to the minor 7 (1-2-3-5) with the pinky raised a half step — practice m7 ↔ m(maj7) as a pure pinky exercise while fingers 1-2-3 stay planted.

Neighboring families