From our free, Jazz Guitar Lessons Daily Series: Lesson 47
Tuesdays - Melodic Ear Training
3/16/21
I’ve often heard that all chords in jazz harmony can be classified as either Maj7 min7, or dominant7. If you’re a fan of Barry Harris’ teaching, you might also be familiar with the idea that the “real” major tonic is a 6 chord, not Maj7. That the Maj7 is derived by borrowing a note from the related diminished chord from his 6th diminished scale. This means that the major 7th of the chord will naturally want to resolve either up to the root or down to the 6 of the chord.
These two theories are sort of at odds with each other. On one hand we have Maj7 being presented as the primary major chord available, on the other hand we’re being told that the Maj7 is actually a mutation of the 6 chord. That the 7th is actually a diminished, or tension note which will want to resolve back into the “real” sound of major.
It might seem like we need to pick a side in this argument.
I chose the side where both sides are equally right.
If you’ve studied tradition music theory, not any kind of modern jazz concepts, just basic old classical theories, you probably know about the importance of the 7th degree of the scale. It’s such an important note that we give it its own name - the leading tone. It CRAVES resolving up to the root note of the key. It’s one of the most intense tension notes we have in western music. This idea aligns really nicely with the Barry Harris system of harmony where we view the major 7th of a major chord as a tension note that ultimately wants to resolve away due to the fact that it comes from the related fully diminished 7 chord.
However, there is something undeniable about the character and quality of an actual Maj7 chord. For example when we hear the pick-up notes in the standard, Misty, which descend down, skip over the Eb note and resolve, instead, to the D note over the EbMaj7 chord in measure 1. If you listen and pay attention, this note doesn’t feel the need to go anywhere. It doesn’t feel unstable. It feels solid and stable… ‘In’. In fact I’ll go one step farther and say that if you’re playing the melody and reach that D note, if you attempt to move it up a half step...
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