This guitar lesson will cover common and advanced ways to improvise over major 7th chords. To keep things simple, we’ll use C major 7 as our reference chord where all the examples below are methods you can use to play over a C major 7th chord.
Over a C major 7th chord, use a C major scale (also know as the Ionian mode).
2. Over a Cmaj7 chord, use the C major Bebop scale. This scale is the same as C major except the bebop scale includes a b6 which is Ab in this case. *The open circles show the bebop passing notes.
3. You can play an Emin7 (E G B D) arpeggio over a Cmaj Chord.
4. Use the B blues scale over a Cmaj7 chord. Experiment this one because there are a lot of tension notes, so use it sparingly.
5. You can use the C major pentatonic scale (A minor pentatonic) over a Cmaj7 chord. This scale will give your playing a simple and basic sound, similar to traditional jazz.
6. Use the B Locrian mode. This is the seventh mode of the C major scale.
With your new knowledge, take these and use them to improvise over major seventh chords. Start simple by looping a C major seventh chord and go through each of these methods to get a feel for the different sounds. You’ll get a very different sound playing a C major scale versus playing the B Lydian scale. When you are ready to take the next step, try playing these over ii-V-I’s as well as jazz standards!