color tones / major 7th chords

Can any of the major 7th chord type color tone configurations function as the tonic chord in any songs we play? Yep, pretty much. It all comes down to style and taste. Really? Absolutely. Here is a beginning sound survey of tonic colors based on the root or tonic pitch C. Example 1.

Cool with the numbers? Recognize any of the sounds? The following ideas examine the function of the major seventh chord type to provide tonal stability in the major tonality and a passing chord in the minor environment. Is the major 7th a blues chord? No. Rock or country? No. Jazz and pop? Pretty much. Often referred to also as a tonic or One chord, this chord type is designed to provide the sense of coming to a gravitational rest or stability in common cadential motions. How does it provide this stability? By having a major 3rd and a major 7th interval, which create the interval of a perfect 5th within the chord. Feel the tension and release in the following cadential idea using C major as the tonal center. Example 1a.

Lets look at the intervalic structure of the major 7th chord type using our major / minor third building blocks. Example 1b.

Just a small slice of the whole arpeggio pie, but enough of one to determine chord quality. Let's hear the intervals between the pitches against the background of the chord. Example 1c.

Tonic, three and five sound nice and warm eh? Does the major 7th sound a bit unstable to your way of hearing things? Well, that is not unusual as the major 7th degree is also the leading tone of the major tonality, an important director for melodic and harmonic traffic. Any guesses as to whether the next third to stack in the major 7th chord type is major or minor? The answer is in the naturally occurring overtones. 

So, what about spelling the color tones of tonic type chords in the major tonality? Let's create a chart and build some of the more common chord colors that will essentially function as a tonic, One or major 7th type chord. Let's organically build a chart spelling out the color tone possibilities in the key of C major. Starting with a C major scale. Example 2.

Then respell the scale in major and minor thirds as an arpeggio. Example 2a.

Now combining the scale and arpeggio to create our tonic family color tone spelling chart. Example 2b.

Cool so far? Same way we spelt the diatonic triads, remember? So what chord do we want to spell? Well, the major seven we just did. Scanning the C major arpeggios pitches in the chart above, basically a major triad and a major seventh yes? Could the major 9th chord be simply a major seventh chord extended upward by inclusion of it's 9th chord degree?  Exactly. Compare the two colors. Example 3.

The major 9th is has a bit of a softer tonic quality, often associated with the Latin flavors used in American music. Read A.C. Jobim's classic "The Girl From Impanema" to hear the cooler side of the tonic major 9th chord in action.

Any complications with extending the tonic sounds to the 11th chord degree? Example 4.

Well, yes potentially there is. The problem revolves around placing the natural diatonic 11 above the major triad within the major 9 chord. Compare the spelling of the two chords. Example 4a.

Now compare the sound of these chord colors. Example 4b.

Well, do you dig the sound of one chord more than the other? Does the natural 11 sound more correct than the # 11 to you? In measures 13 and 15 in the above example, we have simply raised the diatonic, natural 11th chord degree a half step to what is commonly known as the sharp 11th ( # 11 ). Why? Well, my ear hears the conflict between the 3rd of the major triad E and the natural 11 F, which when paired together creates the interval of a minor ninth, one not generally associated with the tonic family of chords. It's dissonance destabilizes it's effectiveness within a "tonic" chord color in the traditional Ionian mode scheme / major tonal environment. And isn't the #11 consistent of the perfect major 3rd / minor 3rd organic symmetry of equal temper? Here is the tonic #11 chord in action. Example 4c.

Kinda has a "sling shot" effect on the forward motion eh? Do we ever use the natural 11 in the major tonality? Sure, but we oftentimes call it a sus 4 chord. Is it a tonic function chord? No, not really, unless of course your artistic statement is based in the uniquely cool "sus 4" tonal environment. We often find this chord color as a intro to a rock or pop song, as a dominant chord type, whereby the 3rd degree is "sus" or suspended up to the 4th. For example, lets spell the chords from the dominant pitch G of our tonic C. Example 4d.

Here is the sound of the V 7 sus4 chord moving towards the tonic. Example 4e.

Do we also hear this suspended 4th color in American gospel music? Totally. This next idea is one the rockers love, simply using the sus 4 / 3 suspension over tonic harmony. Dig the "epic" quality of this natural 11 / sus 4 color. Example 4f.

Britain's rock legends "The Who" used the above motion to create the dramatic intro and body of the tune "Pinball Wizard" from the rock opera "Tommy." Hip to The Who?

We can easily flip the above idea into perhaps the most common intro of all time, in all styles, in all places of American music. Dig this groovy vamp. Example 4g.

All players of all styles can love this type of motion as it gently rocks between the two colors, creating an essential introduction to tunes written in the major tonality. With it's basic triadic level of the harmony, does it get any simpler? Run this idea through the cycle of fourths.

Moving back on task, where does the 13th chord degree potentially come into play? Which pitch was it anyway? Here is the chart from above to refresh our theory. Example 5.

Notice how we have held onto the #11 in the chart based on the discussions above? This is usually the case with the 11th chord degree in tonic function chords. So, the 13th in the key of C is A natural.  See any conflicts? Compare the following tonic type chords. Example 5a.

Hear any degree of conflict or dissonance with the 13th that would prohibit it from providing the stability necessary to function as a tonic color? No? Me neither. Do we have to have the 7th, 9th and #11 to use the 13th pitch A? Nope, a very common tonic chord is termed simply a "tonic six chord", which provides an essential tonic color in lots of American music. Example 5b.

Quite an important flavor in early American music, the 6th coloring can be bright, stable, light, and imply all of the freedom of the pentatonic color from which the major scale color emerged. Perhaps try using this tonic color in one of your up tempo numbers.

Anyway, back to our quest to conquer the tonic arpeggio ... Although not all that common, the C maj 9 # 11 / 13 provides a broad but restive quality based perhaps on it's polytonal nature. Do you here the D major triad in the upper part of the chord? Yes? Example 5c.

Dig the sound? Hear and feel the reduced sense of tonal gravity in the above idea? That is part of the coolness created by the polytonal environment. So, in exploring the color tones within the upper part of the tonic arpeggio, we move into a potentially polytonal environment? Yep. So simple yet so cool. Can we go further into the arpeggio to the 15th? Sure, why not. Example 6.

Well, let's compare. Example 6a.

I don't dig the C maj 9 # 11 / 13 / 15 color, do you? Thinking in C major, the natural 15 creates a D dominant 7th chord over the tonic C major 7th. Not the most stable of combinations. Is there a way to fix it? I "fix" this 15th chord degree just as we did with the 11th degree, by simply raising it up a half step. Compare the two options regarding the 15th and the fixed # 15. Example 6b.

Is this stuff playable? Of course, that's what the left pedal on the piano is for! Just kidding. Can you hear the potential polytonal coolness of the #15th degree? Potentially very advanced. It's an altered tonic pitch right? I mean we are in the key of C major and somehow stacking pitches so that the pitch C# sounds cool? What's up with that? Long story, click here or here to get there. Do we use chords which include the 15th degree very often? Nope, but maybe someday... perhaps when our tonality omits the tritone? Is it good to know that there is a 15th and #15th? Your call. 

Other common tonic family color tones worth spelling? There really is not all that many more color tone options. In how we voice the chords? Yes, lots of options. In how we create sequences of chords? Yes, sky's the limit. In how the individual voices of one chord move to the next? Yes, potentially endless possibilities. In number of color tones that create a stable functioning tonic chord? Eh, no not that many. Any more possibilities? Maybe the tonic b5? Or perhaps the quartile 6 / 9 colors? So, even though the number of tonic color tones is limited to 4 or 5 pitches, the combinations are potentially endless, especially for piano players, where the buttons to sound the pitches are so close together.

So how do we spell the tonic color tones in the other 11 major keys? Just like the diatonic triads? Yep, just like the triads, simply pick the major key and fill in those pitches into the chart we used above. How about the key of Eb major? Sure, here is the chart respelt with the pitches of Eb major including the tonic alterations to the 11th and 15th degrees as discussed above. Example 7.

Let's spell the common tonic function chords found in the major tonality from the root Eb. Example 7a.

Moving further up the arpeggio. Example 7b.

Easy enough eh? Here is the sound of these tonic colors created from the root pitch Eb. Example 7c. Cool with the numbers?

Are you having trouble following along with the ideas on this page? Are you fluent spelling out the letter names of the 12 major scales? Do you see how by respelling the scale as an arpeggio that the various pitches of the chord are illuminated? What kind of chords do you use to create your music? Any room for some of the bigger chordal structures? As always, lots and lots of questions. Speaking of which, need an answer to one perhaps? Comments? Questions?

Ready for exploring the spelling of the color tones for our other two families of chords? Pick one, click and expand your knowledge.

"The gods too are fond of a joke."

Aristotle (384-322 B.C.)