Songs with a lot of major chords?

[No Johns Coltrane]

I was working on a song with a lot of maj7 chords, and I know the common approaches of using the major, lydian or minor pentatonic scale, but when I use any of these, I don't like anything I play( and when I try to stay away from these, I do some weird chromatic stuff that I also don't like), what are some standards with a lot of maj7 chords that I could transcribe lines from to incorporate into my playing?

[bobby d]

We All Remember Wes
Four
On the Sunny side of the Street
Lady Be Good

[christianm77]

Pretty much any standard in a major key?

[christianm77]

Also functional or non-functional harmony?

Inner Urge has a lot of major seventh chords, but is non-functional.

[mr. beaumont]

Naima!

[christianm77]

He said No John Coltranes tho

[grahambop]

Bye Bye Blackbird e.g. Miles Davis version.

[rpjazzguitar]

I can't think of one that is all major chords.

But, tunes like All of Me and Out of Nowhere have quite a few beats of major chords within them.

One thing that comes to mind is this. For All of Me, starting with 8 beats of Cmaj7 .. sing the Cmajor scale to get the notes in mind and then strum the chords. Scat sing a solo. When you get a line you like, figure it out on the guitar. After that gets boring, try the same thing, but this time with an F# instead of an F. Keep at it until you can hear the sound in your mind and scat sing with it. When that works, congratulate yourself, you just mastered Lydian.

There's an argument that goes, you shouldn't be playing stuff unless you can hear it in your mind. There are counterarguments, certainly, but this strikes me as a reasonable way to try to get those sounds in your playing.

[bobby d]

We all remember Wes has a recurring intro of major7 chords descending in whole tone increments. Starting with Gmaj7 then going to Fma7, Ebmaj7, DbMaj7, BMaj7, Amaj7. So, transcribe some George Benson Riffs!

[christianm77]

Trane's original lead sheet

[jameslovestal]

We All Remember Wes
Four
On the Sunny side of the Street
Lady Be Good

Strange I play Four in Eb and there is only one Major chord, Ebmaj7.

E.g. Ebmaj7, Ebmin9 \ Ab13, Fmin9, Abmin7 \ Db7+9

Ebmaj7, F#min9 \ B13, Fmin9 \ Bb13, (repeat).

(B section end with Gmin7, F#min7, Fmin7, Ebmaj7).

I would recommend Green Dolphin Street.

[TH]

One Note Samba has a bunch of major chords. If you don't like the minors, just ignore them til the Major comes back.
How about some Christmas Carols. Frosty the Snowman, the A section is kinda Major-ey. Don't bother with the bridge.

David

[Hep To The Jive]

Happy Birthday is pretty much all majors. Coltrane never played that one I don't think?

[bobby d]

Strange I play Four in Eb and there is only one Major chord, Ebmaj7.

E.g. Ebmaj7, Ebmin9 \ Ab13, Fmin9, Abmin7 \ Db7+9

Ebmaj7, F#min9 \ B13, Fmin9 \ Bb13, (repeat).

(B section end with Gmin7, F#min7, Fmin7, Ebmaj7).

I would recommend Green Dolphin Street.

There's also an Abmaj7 according to the real book. In fact the maj7 of Ab is in the melody (bar 5) so I don't know how you came up with Ab13.

[christianm77]

There's also an Abmaj7 according to the real book. In fact the maj7 of Ab is in the melody (bar 5) so I don't know how you came up with Ab13.

Yeah, this is a mistake I think in the Real Books up to the 5th Edition. It gives the changes:

Ebmaj7 | % | Bb-7 | Eb7 |
Abmaj7 | % | Abm | Db7 |

More recent Real Books (including I think 6th edition, the Aebersold and New Real Book (sher)) give:

Ebmaj7 | % | Ebm7 | Ab7 |
Fm7 | % | Ab-7 | Db7 |

So you can see the position of Ab7 is not in bar 5, so that G is a 9th on the Fm7 here.

The 5th edition RB changes are, I think, basically totally wrong (but do fit the melody). As with the FOUR MISSING BARS in Desafinado, it was probably corrected in the errata at the front of the book, but no one ever looked at that lol. It made it a dicey one to call.

Google search gives a quick comparison
four miles - Google Search

[christianm77]

This is the audio reference given by the Real Book. See what you think:

OK just checked 5th Ed RB, the errata gives Eb-7 Ab7 in bars 3 and 4, but doesn't mention the Fm7. I think that chord is a bit easier to hear on the original version of the tune.

[Reg]

Here is an old tune by steve kuhn, called the real guitarist. All maj chords except last chord.

[Stuart Elliott]

Misty has lots of MAJ 7 chords and some MAJ7#4

[bobby d]

Yeah, this is a mistake I think in the Real Books up to the 5th Edition. It gives the changes:

Ebmaj7 | % | Bb-7 | Eb7 |
Abmaj7 | % | Abm | Db7 |

More recent Real Books (including I think 6th edition, the Aebersold and New Real Book (sher)) give:

Ebmaj7 | % | Ebm7 | Ab7 |
Fm7 | % | Ab-7 | Db7 |

So you can see the position of Ab7 is not in bar 5, so that G is a 9th on the Fm7 here.

The 5th edition RB changes are, I think, basically totally wrong (but do fit the melody). As with the FOUR MISSING BARS in Desafinado, it was probably corrected in the errata at the front of the book, but no one ever looked at that lol. It made it a dicey one to call.

Google search gives a quick comparison
four miles - Google Search

So Fmi7 is the relative minor of Abmaj7. I hear the bass playing an Ab on both versions myself. But if the bassist played an F it would still fit just fine. Kind of proves a point that major can be heard as minor sometimes.

[christianm77]

So Fmi7 is the relative minor of Abmaj7. I hear the bass playing an Ab on both versions myself. But if the bassist played an F it would still fit just fine. Kind of proves a point that major can be heard as minor sometimes.

Yeah I dunno. But most sources are pretty consistent on an Fm7 there, FWIW.

There's obviously a bit of a bass line going on there in the arrangement.

In terms of soloing there's obviously no real difference...

[Hep To The Jive]

Yeah, this is a mistake I think in the Real Books up to the 5th Edition. It gives the changes:

Ebmaj7 | % | Bb-7 | Eb7 |
Abmaj7 | % | Abm | Db7 |

More recent Real Books (including I think 6th edition, the Aebersold and New Real Book (sher)) give:

Ebmaj7 | % | Ebm7 | Ab7 |
Fm7 | % | Ab-7 | Db7 |

So you can see the position of Ab7 is not in bar 5, so that G is a 9th on the Fm7 here.

The 5th edition RB changes are, I think, basically totally wrong (but do fit the melody). As with the FOUR MISSING BARS in Desafinado, it was probably corrected in the errata at the front of the book, but no one ever looked at that lol. It made it a dicey one to call.

Google search gives a quick comparison
four miles - Google Search

The tune would be so much better with the first version of the changes, and much more memorable too. Just saying... The melody is really catchy, but that second chord progression don't make much sense.

[Jonah]

I was working on a song with a lot of maj7 chords, and I know the common approaches of using the major, lydian or minor pentatonic scale, but when I use any of these, I don't like anything I play( and when I try to stay away from these, I do some weird chromatic stuff that I also don't like)

No Johns Coltrane, Please do not take it as critics... this is not about you personally

But guys ... is it not what we were talking about in 'CST is the opposit of...' thread?

You see this is how people treat it: lots of major chords.. major, lydian, minor pentatonic...


But what is the song and its form? What are the changes? Are all these maj7 absolutely the same and only transposed up or down? How do they function in a song? How is it organized? What is the original tune? How is this tune related to harmony?

[christianm77]

The tune would be so much better with the first version of the changes, and much more memorable too. Just saying... The melody is really catchy, but that second chord progression don't make much sense.

well the 1st progression is extremely common

[christianm77]

No Johns Coltrane, Please do not take it as critics... this is not about you personally

But guys ... is it not what we were talking about in 'CST is the opposit of...' thread?

You see this is how people treat it: lots of major chords.. major, lydian, minor pentatonic...


But what is the song and its form? What are the changes? Are all these maj7 absolutely the same and only transposed up or down? How do they function in a song? How is it organized? What is the original tune? How is this tune related to harmony?

quite

[Jonah]

quite

quit