Interval · M7 · 11 half steps
The major seventh
A major seventh is 11 half steps wide, spanning seven letter names: C to B. Sharp, bright and tense.
- Half steps11
- Letter names7
- From CC–B
- Inverts tominor second
The major seventh on the staff
An interval’s number counts letter names from the bottom note to the top, both included: C, D, E, F, G, A and B is seven, a seventh. On the staff, both notes are on lines or both in spaces: from a line, it lands on the third line up (skipping two lines between); from a space, on the third space up.
The number alone doesn’t make it a major seventh: major means exactly 11 half steps. Check for sharps and flats, including the key signature: C–B is a major seventh, but change one note by a half step and the same seventh on the staff becomes a minor seventh or something rarer.
Each example below plays the two notes one after the other (a melodic interval), then together (a harmonic interval).
On the piano
Count half steps: every key, black or white, is one half step from the next. From middle C, the major seventh is the 11th key up, B.
Find the octave and come down one key: from C, B; from F, E. Only C–B and F–E are major sevenths on the white keys alone.
On the white keys alone, the major sevenths are C–B and F–E.
How a major seventh sounds
A major seventh is bright but very tense: the top note is only a half step short of the octave, and it seems to strain upward to reach it. Played together, it’s a sharp, shimmering clash; softened inside a chord, it’s the dreamy sound of a major seventh chord.
In harmony, it’s a dissonance: the two notes clash and want to move.
Few well-known tunes open with a major seventh, so it’s easiest to hear against the octave: play the octave, then lower its top note by a half step. That reaching, unresolved sound is the major seventh.
Where you’ll meet it
A major seventh is the distance from the home note up to the leading note (C up to B in C major), the note that pulls back to the home note. On top of a major chord it makes a major seventh chord, C–E–G–B, common in jazz and pop. It’s a minor second turned upside down.
Turned upside down, with the bottom note moved up an octave, a major seventh becomes a minor second: 11 and 1 half steps make an octave, and the letter numbers always add up to nine (7 + 2).
To read it fast in real music, practise intervals the way you read words: as shapes. Level 18: right-hand intervals in the free sight-reading exercises has plenty of them.
Quiz: the major seventh
Ten questions: name the interval on the staff, among its neighbours, and play a major seventh above a written note on the piano below, a MIDI keyboard or your computer keys.
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A major seventh above every note
| From | A major seventh up |
|---|---|
| C | B |
| C♯ | B♯ |
| D | C♯ |
| E♭ | D |
| E | D♯ |
| F | E |
| F♯ | E♯ |
| G | F♯ |
| A♭ | G |
| A | G♯ |
| B♭ | A |
| B | A♯ |
Each one is spelt with the 7th letter up, which is why some need a sharp or flat that looks unusual, like C♯ up to B♯.
Questions
How many half steps are in a major seventh?
11 half steps. Count every key, black and white, from the bottom note up to the top one: C to B is a major seventh.
What is a major seventh above C?
B. It’s spelt with the 7th letter up from C (C, D, E, F, G, A and B).
What is the inversion of a major seventh?
A minor second. Move the bottom note up an octave and the eleven half steps become one: major seventh and minor second add up to an octave.
How do you recognise a major seventh on the staff?
Both notes are on lines or both in spaces: from a line, it lands on the third line up (skipping two lines between); from a space, on the third space up. That tells you the letter distance; then check the sharps, flats and key signature to tell major from minor.
Hear every interval in real music
Pianomi, a free sight-reading app for piano, writes new pieces at your level and listens to your MIDI keyboard, so intervals become shapes you read without counting.