Ebmaj7 piano chord, Eb major 7th notes and fingering.

The Ebmaj7 piano chord is Eb major 7th: Eb, G, Bb and D. It is the Eb major triad with the major seventh (D) added on top, eleven semitones above the root and a single semitone below the next Eb. Chord charts write it as Ebmaj7, EbMaj7 or EbM7.

How to play Ebmaj7 on piano

1. Find Eb on the keyboard. Eb is the second black key of the pair, just before E. It is the same key as D#.
2. With your right hand, put finger 1 on Eb, finger 2 on G, finger 3 on Bb and finger 5 on D. Finger 1 is the thumb.
3. Press all four keys together. In root position they run from Eb4 to D5, 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 Eb3 to D4, one octave lower: Eb with finger 5, G with finger 3, Bb with finger 2, D with finger 1.
5. The cards under the keyboard hold the four positions, with Eb, G, Bb and D at the bottom in turn. Play and Arpeggio on a card play that position.
6. Open Note names. As written the keys read Eb, G, Bb and D. Sharps shows D#, G, A# and D, and Flats shows Eb, G, Bb and D. This chord is written with flats, so As written and Flats match.

How Ebmaj7 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 (D) sits one semitone under the next Eb, 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 Eb4. On a piano tuned to A4 = 440 Hz, a note 6 semitones below A4 has the frequency 440 × 2^(-6/12), which is about 311.13 Hz. G4 is 2 semitones below A4, so 440 × 2^(-2/12) gives about 392.00 Hz.

Ebmaj7 and D#maj7 are the same chord on the keyboard: the same four keys sound for both. Written as D#maj7 it would need a double accidental (D#, F##, A# and C##), so Eb is the name that sheet music uses. The key of Eb major has 3 flats, while the key of D# major would need double accidentals.

What the keys look like under your hand

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

Ebmaj7 inversions and fingering

Ebmaj7 has four positions. In root position Eb is at the bottom. In the first inversion, G is at the bottom and the chord is written Ebmaj7/G. In the second inversion, Bb is at the bottom and the chord is written Ebmaj7/Bb. In the third inversion, D is at the bottom and the chord is written Ebmaj7/D. 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 Ebmaj7

Ebmaj7 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 Bb major, with 2 flats, where it is chord IVmaj7.

Progressions that use Ebmaj7, with the chord numbers and the chords in that key:

• Bb major: Imaj7-IVmaj7-V7-Imaj7, which is Bbmaj7, Ebmaj7, F7, Bbmaj7, the three-chord cadence of folk, rock and blues.
• G minor: i7-VImaj7-IIImaj7-VII7, which is Gm7, Ebmaj7, Bbmaj7, F7, a common minor-key loop.
• Eb major: Imaj7-V7-vi7-IVmaj7, which is Ebmaj7, Bb7, Cm7, Abmaj7, the four-chord loop heard in a great deal of pop.

Here is a worked example in Bb major. The chord before Ebmaj7 in the first progression above is Bbmaj7 (Bb, D, F and A). From Bbmaj7 in root position, the closest way to reach Ebmaj7 is its second inversion (Bb, D, Eb and G, 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 Ebmaj7: G, Bb and D make a G minor chord (G, Bb and D). A major 7th is a minor triad with the root added underneath.

What Ebmaj7 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.

Ebmaj7 is the IVmaj7 chord in Bb major, the VImaj7 chord in G minor and the Imaj7 chord in Eb major.

A common mistake with Ebmaj7

A common mistake is pressing Db instead of D on top, one semitone lower than the seventh of Ebmaj7. That gives Eb7 (Eb, G, Bb and Db), a dominant 7th with a tense sound. The top note of Ebmaj7 should be the one right below the next Eb.

Chords to learn next

Chords close to Ebmaj7: Eb major (the same chord without the seventh; shares Eb, G and Bb); Eb7 (a flat seventh instead; shares Eb, G and Bb); Cm7 (shares three notes with it); Ebm7 (a minor third instead; shares Eb and Bb).

Once Ebmaj7 feels easy, play it and then Eb7 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.