Music Theory : Chord Tones

Homework and Study Help
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Hey guys. I’m looking to memorize the “chord tones” of the 12 major 7 chords.

What that means basically is that there’s a name, like “ D Major 7,” and 4 letters attached to it with sharps or flats attached to it. Let’s call them symbols.

Like C Major 7 = C E G B, with no symbols.

But G Major 7 = G A D F#. 1 symbol, the F#.

What’s the best practice to have this in my memory?

Thanks so much! Kind of new to using memory techniques with music so any kind of advice or guidance would be awesome.

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I’m not sure that memory techniques are the best fit for something like this. You need to understand the way that major 7th chords work, and then you won’t need to memorize anything. The way you form a major 7th chord is by making a major chord (so, a major 3rd with a minor 3rd stacked on top), and then stacking another minor third on top of that. Once you have that in your memory, you can figure out any of the notes.

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Hey meepster, thanks for your input. I wanted memory techniques mainly for improvisation, since knowing the tones quickly is important for that. For example if I wanted to play with the F major 7, quickly knowing that “okay here I can play the F A C E notes” is very helpful. What do you think?

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I dunno. With improvisation, you really want to get to the point where the knowledge of the chords is as natural to you as knowledge of your native language - otherwise, you’ll be too slow. I’m not sure how helpful memory techniques will be for that. What you want is an instinctive reach for the F A C E notes the moment you know an Fmaj7 is about to happen. That will only happen with practice and lots of it.

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aright I appreciate the feedback!! i guess i just gotta get on the piano for this one lol

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Hi,

I do not know whether you have studied music theory or not.

The Major Seventh chords are all the same they are a major chord with a major third on top.

From the Root: Major Third + Minor Third (equals a fifth) + Major Third = Major Seventh.

Therefore:

C Major Seventh = C + E + G + B (in any order incidentally!)
G Major Seventh = G + B + D + F sharp.

This is MUCH easier if you read music as it is just every other line or space
Though this can confuse non-musicians looking at music:
e.g

F Sharp Major Seventh

Start with a F Sharp Major Chord

F# - A# - C# and NOW put a major third on top which (Totally logically but will confuse non musicians) E# (YES E Sharp! Which is not a note beginners know exists.)

All of this is covered in school Music Theory, up to Grade V

So you do not need to know the actual chords, you just need to know the intervals from any other note (or pitch as the Americans call a ‘note’).

Hope that helps