Major 7th Chords

maj7
M7
ma7
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The major 7th is very common in today's pop music. You won't see much in folk and country music, older popular music or traditional folk songs.

It has a slight dissonance to it that adds a pleasant spiciness to the harmonic soun.

Unlike the dom 7 which needs to resolve to another chord, the maj7 can be satisfying as a final chord.

In fact, ending of a major 7th arpeggio is typical cocktail pianist device.


LH: C chord
RH: E G B E, G B E G, B
3 5 7 3 5 7 3 5 7

Notice that the 7th and Maj7 -- most big chords in general, often leave out the 5th without any great harm. The ear can still understand teh ch ord.

The situation is more ambiguous for a major 6th, cuz if you leave out the 5th, it becomes a 1st inversion minor chord. This is not necessarily bad but it does make the chord less identifiable as a major 6th.

Voicing chord -- when the bass is low, it is better to avoid closed position chords in the LH. We might us the 5th, the 6th, the 7th or the octave as the next hightest tone over the bass tone, but rarely the 3rd which is used only if the chord is positioned high enough to avoid a muddy sound.


Stride style
Usually it is a bassnote- chord pattern that is the essence of the stride style.
You use inversions to allow a pleasant asencidng bass line like F F# G G# A...
A strong bass line like this one practically carrie the harmony by itself.

you then play in four -- hear four beats per measure instead of the playing in two, where you have bass - upper chord, the alternating bass note and chord pattern.