Major Seventh Interval

major seventh overview

A major seventh spans eleven half steps. From C, for example, a major seventh up is B. The number in its name counts the letter names it covers, including both ends: from C to B, C D E F G A B is seven, so it is a seventh. The eleven half steps make it major. With one half step less, C to B♭, it would be a minor seventh.

Lesson Steps

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The major seventh is a half step short of the octave, and played together it’s one of the sharpest sounds on the piano: the two notes almost meet and don’t quite. It is the outer interval of a major 7th chord (C to B in C major 7th), and melodically it’s the distance from the tonic up to the leading tone.

On the keyboard, a major seventh always has ten keys between its two notes. Depending on where it starts, those notes can fall on white or black keys, which gives it three different shapes.

The shapes of the major seventh on the piano

Each shape sits a little differently under the hand, so it is worth knowing them all. Under each keyboard, the same notes are on the staff: played together, then up, then down.

White key to white key: C to B

Major sevenths that share this same shape are C–B and F–E. There are ten keys in between (five white, five black).

White key to black key: D to C♯

Major sevenths that share this same shape are D–C♯, E–D♯, G–F♯, A–G♯, and B–A♯. There are ten keys in between (six white, four black).

Black key to white key: D♭ to C

Major sevenths that share this same shape are D♭–C, E♭–D, G♭–F, A♭–G, and B♭–A. There are ten keys in between (six white, four black).

Reading the major seventh on the staff

A seventh goes from a line to a line with two lines in between, or from a space to a space with two spaces in between. Both notes are on lines, or both are in spaces. That stays true whatever the accidentals are: every seventh looks like a seventh, and the accidentals tell us its quality.

This is what makes intervals so useful for reading. Rather than naming every note from the clef, we read from one note to the next: once we know where we are, the shape on the staff tells us how far to move. Reading this way is relational rather than absolute, and it is much faster.

It works the same in the treble and bass clef, and at any height on the staff, so a reader who knows the look of a seventh recognizes it everywhere.

The major seventh in the hand

Sevenths are played 1 and 5, with the hand open almost to an octave. It helps to think of the major seventh as an octave with the upper note brought in by a half step.

The spacing on the staff and the spacing in the hand belong together. Beyond a fifth the fingers no longer map one to one onto the notes, so it helps to know the span as a whole hand shape: we see the distance on the staff, and the hand opens to it.

Inverting the major seventh

If we move the lower note up an octave (or the upper note down one), a major seventh becomes a minor second: C to B turns into B to C. The numbers of an interval and its inversion add up to nine, and their half steps to twelve (11 + 1). Major becomes minor.

On the keyboard the shapes swap as well: a white-to-black shape inverts to a black-to-white one, and a white-to-white shape stays white to white.

Practice the major seventh

Play the first shape, C to B, together and then one note after the other, and listen to the sound before moving on.
Find the same shape at every place it occurs on the keyboard (the lists under each image), then the other shapes. Notice how the hand changes as the keys change color, while the sound stays a major seventh.
Play a major seventh up from all twelve keys, naming the upper note as we go.
Read it: look for major sevenths in a piece we know, and before playing each one, name the interval from its look on the staff.
Once the shapes are reliable, play the interval without looking at the hands, feeling the span between the fingers.

Avoid common mistakes with the major seventh

Counting up from the bottom. Counting eleven half steps is slow and easy to get wrong. It’s faster to find the octave and come down a half step.
Counting keys instead of half steps. The starting key isn’t counted: from C, the first half step is C♯.
Reading every note from the clef. Naming each note separately is slow. Reading the interval from the previous note is what lets the eye stay ahead of the hands.