Major 7 chord sounds like a triad
There are several ways to denote a C major 7 chord:
Cmaj7 (Real Book ed. 5, Library of Musicians)
CMA7 (New Real Book, Hal Leonard Real Jazz Standards)
CM7 (Jazz Fake Book)
C∆7 (Great Gig Book or Blue Book)
C∆ (Colorado Cook Book, Jamey Aebersold Jazz Play Along)
These all should sound like a major chord with the natural 7. Musescore does this correctly, except for the last one, which I happen to prefer as a Jazz musician. The last one sounds like a triad in my Musescore, which is incorrect, in my opinion. (I'm using Musescore 3). Do you agree? Can I change that somewhere in the program?
Comments
Option 1: https://musescore.org/en/project/replace-chord-symbols
Option 2: As jazz musician you may like the attached plugin that gives you voicings rather than plain chords. Copy a lead sheet to a piano score and run the plugin. It uses ‘my’ (Mark Levine) style of chord symbols, e.g. C for CMaj
See https://musescore.org/en/node/345847 for discussion on this.
See https://musescore.org/en/project/satb-style-lead-sheet-harmonizer for a list of supported chord symbols.
WriteHarmonyVoicings4.qml
In reply to Option 1: https://musescore… by elsewhere
Thank you.
These are solutions which require a plugin, which I don't want at the moment.
There is no simpler way to edit chord symbols and how they sound?
In reply to Thank you. These are… by HunGrYforMuSiK
AFAIK: No. I asked for this myself long ago (editing the play notes) but Marc Sabatella replied this would be arbitrary (or something like that) but it is 'arbitrary' as it is now, as you are experiencing...'
I suppose you mean a major seventh chord. A major chord is any chord with a major third.
In reply to I suppose you mean a major… by Magnus Johansson
Yes of course, thank you. I've corrected it.
In reply to Yes of course, thank you. I… by HunGrYforMuSiK
You're welcome; please edit the title also.
I tested to input a Cmaj7 in MuseScore Studio 4.3.2, and also there the chord sounds a major triad, C.
In reply to You're welcome; please edit… by Magnus Johansson
No, it does not, not when I try it at least
![Screenshot 2024-08-20 112330.png]( "Screenshot 2024-08-20 112330.png")
do sound differently
In reply to No, it does not by Jojo-Schmitz
What notes are played in the two chords?
In reply to What notes are played in the… by Magnus Johansson
a major triad and a major triad with an added 7th
check this
In reply to You're welcome; please edit… by Magnus Johansson
Done.
I wrote it like this, because in Jazz language, when you say 'C major chord' you usually mean 'C major 7 chord'. Otherwise you say 'C major triad', or you simply say 'C chord'. But 'C major 7 chord' is better because it is unambiguous.
In reply to Done. I wrote it like this,… by HunGrYforMuSiK
Thank you. This delta sign issue is interesting. It seems like the sign in chord theory originally meant a triad (each side of the sign a note in the chord), then specifically a major triad, and then a major interval. These kinds of shifts or changes in meaning are not uncommon but often they complicate things. However, I have earlier read the sign as only meaning a major seventh.
See https://github.com/musescore/MuseScore/issues/16933
In reply to See https://github.com… by Jojo-Schmitz
MarcSabatella commented on Mar 20, 2023
Some people use it to mean major triad, others to mean major seventh.
RichardJECooke commented on Mar 20, 2023
I have never seen in any real book, nor heard from any jazz player, nor read in the Jazz Piano book, nor seen anywhere on the web on theory websites that delta means major triad.
This last sentence is exactly my position. @MarcSabatella: Who used it to mean major triad?
∆ and ∆7 is the same and should sound like a major 7 chord, as do the variants M7, MA7, maj7.
In reply to MarcSabatella commented on… by HunGrYforMuSiK
+1
In reply to See https://github.com… by Jojo-Schmitz
It seems that Musescore is not going to do anything about this, and that's OK. The tool is free after all, and it's a minor issue.
In reply to It seems that Musescore is… by HunGrYforMuSiK
The issue is still open.