Abmaj7 piano chord, Ab major 7th notes and fingering.

The Abmaj7 piano chord is Ab major 7th: Ab, C, Eb and G. It is the Ab major triad with the major seventh (G) added on top, eleven semitones above the root and a single semitone below the next Ab. Chord charts write it as Abmaj7, AbMaj7 or AbM7.

How to play Abmaj7 on piano

1. Find Ab on the keyboard. Ab is the middle black key of the group of three, between G and A. It is the same key as G#.
2. With your right hand, put finger 1 on Ab, finger 2 on C, finger 3 on Eb and finger 5 on G. Finger 1 is the thumb.
3. Press all four keys together. In root position they run from Ab3 to G4, a reach of 11 semitones. Play chord sounds them together and Arpeggio sounds them one by one, from the bottom up.
4. Click Left hand to see the left hand. It plays Ab2 to G3, one octave lower: Ab with finger 5, C with finger 3, Eb with finger 2, G with finger 1.
5. The cards under the keyboard hold the four positions, with Ab, C, Eb and G at the bottom in turn. Play and Arpeggio on a card play that position.
6. Open Note names. As written the keys read Ab, C, Eb and G. Sharps shows G#, C, D# and G, and Flats shows Ab, C, Eb and G. This chord is written with flats, so As written and Flats match.

How Abmaj7 is built

Counted from the root, the formula is 0, 4, 7, 11. Stacked on each other the gaps are 4 + 3 + 4: a major third, a minor third and another major third. The seventh (G) sits one semitone under the next Ab, so the top and the root rub together very gently. That small clash gives the chord its soft, spacious sound.

Worked example: the pitch of Ab3. On a piano tuned to A4 = 440 Hz, a note 13 semitones below A4 has the frequency 440 × 2^(-13/12), which is about 207.65 Hz. C4 is 9 semitones below A4, so 440 × 2^(-9/12) gives about 261.63 Hz.

Abmaj7 and G#maj7 are the same chord on the keyboard: the same four keys sound for both. Written as G#maj7 it would need a double accidental (G#, B#, D# and F##), so Ab is the name that sheet music uses. The key of Ab major has 4 flats, while the key of G# major would need double accidentals.

What the keys look like under your hand

The white keys beside Ab are G on the left and A on the right, a semitone each way. Two of the four notes are black keys (Ab and Eb) and two are white keys (C and G). Your thumb lands on Ab, a black key with G and A beside it. Keep the thumb relaxed and slightly curved, and let the wrist stay level instead of twisting to reach. Finger 3 presses Eb, a black key between D and E. The middle fingers are the longest, so they reach black keys most easily.

Abmaj7 inversions and fingering

Abmaj7 has four positions. In root position Ab is at the bottom. In the first inversion, C is at the bottom and the chord is written Abmaj7/C. In the second inversion, Eb is at the bottom and the chord is written Abmaj7/Eb. In the third inversion, G is at the bottom and the chord is written Abmaj7/G. The tightest reach, 8 semitones from the lowest key to the highest, is the first inversion and third inversion. The widest, at 11, is the root position.

The keys that hold Abmaj7

Abmaj7 fits four of the major and natural minor keys that have a standard key signature, which means every note of it comes from that key's scale. The simplest is Eb major, with 3 flats, where it is chord IVmaj7.

Progressions that use Abmaj7, with the chord numbers and the chords in that key:

• Eb major: Imaj7-IVmaj7-V7-Imaj7, which is Ebmaj7, Abmaj7, Bb7, Ebmaj7, the three-chord cadence of folk, rock and blues.
• C minor: i7-VImaj7-IIImaj7-VII7, which is Cm7, Abmaj7, Ebmaj7, Bb7, a common minor-key loop.
• Ab major: Imaj7-V7-vi7-IVmaj7, which is Abmaj7, Eb7, Fm7, Dbmaj7, the four-chord loop heard in a great deal of pop.

Here is a worked example in Eb major. The chord before Abmaj7 in the first progression above is Ebmaj7 (Eb, G, Bb and D). From Ebmaj7 in root position, the closest way to reach Abmaj7 is its second inversion (Eb, G, Ab and C, lowest note first): two notes stay where they are, and the others move 4 semitones in total, counting each note against the note in the same place from the bottom.

Look at the top three notes of Abmaj7: C, Eb and G make a C minor chord (C, Eb and G). A major 7th is a minor triad with the root added underneath.

What Abmaj7 sounds like

Major 7th chords sound soft, warm and a little dreamy. They are at home in jazz, soul, bossa nova, lo-fi and ballads, and they do not need to resolve the way a dominant 7th does, so they can sit at the end of a phrase.

Abmaj7 is the IVmaj7 chord in Eb major, the VImaj7 chord in C minor and the Imaj7 chord in Ab major.

A common mistake with Abmaj7

A common mistake is pressing Gb instead of G on top, one semitone lower than the seventh of Abmaj7. That gives Ab7 (Ab, C, Eb and Gb), a dominant 7th with a tense sound. The top note of Abmaj7 should be the one right below the next Ab.

Chords to learn next

Chords close to Abmaj7: Ab major (the same chord without the seventh; shares Ab, C and Eb); Ab7 (a flat seventh instead; shares Ab, C and Eb); Fm7 (shares three notes with it); Abm7, listed as G#m7 (a minor third instead; shares Ab and Eb).

Once Abmaj7 feels easy, play it and then Ab7 to hear what the flat seventh does. For chords beyond these six types, and for guitar and ukulele shapes, use the chord finder. To play along with your computer keys, open the virtual piano. The piano chords page lists all 72 chords.