Don’t 86 the Major-Six

Practical usage for an obscure harmony.

The Sound of Happy-Sad

In the world of music there exists a chord that feels "Happy-Sad". To be more specific, it's upbeat and major while having the quality of a relaxed minor. Some people use the Maj6 as a substitute for the Maj7 because it can have that easy going jazz feel. There are plenty of applications for the Maj6 regardless of style. What we'll go over are some of the practical uses so that you can use its "Happy-Sad" duality.

The Obscure Side

Before we start using the Maj6 we need to look as what give it such an unique sound. A chord like C6 uses the notes C-E-A. If we reorder these notes as A-C-E we can an Am chord. This allows a C6 to function as an Am in first inversion.

An inversion is where we take the notes of a chord and use another note as the root note or lowest tone. Since C is the first note AFTER the root note of Am (A-C-E), the C6 chord is the same thing as Am -1 (C-A-E). Notice how the only important note in spelling the chord is the root note. C-A-E and C-E-A both work because C is the first degree, E is the major third degree, and A is the major sixth degree. As long as C is the root note, the other notes are relative.

No Nit-Picking Allowed

If you look up a Maj6 chord on the Internet you'll find some contradictions. Some people spell C6 as C-E-G-A. This is an inversion of an Am7 chord spelled as A-C-E-G. So, which is correct? I'd say both.

The general rule for chord naming is that when we take a triad like C-E-G and continue using every other note, the name of the chord is the triad and the last degree used. An "add" chord occurs when you take a triad and add a note that is not the next sequential note in line. Check out the next chart to see how this works. There are other chord naming conventions, but this is a basic way of explaining chord naming for our current purposes.

C6 spelled as C-E-G implies that the fifth degree is raised to the sixth degree. C6 spelled as C-E-G-A implies that the sixth degree is the next note added to the C major triad. Cadd6 implies that the sixth degree is ADDED after the C major triad, giving C-E-G-A.

So... just call it C6 or an inversion like Am-1 or Am7-1. That way you can tell others in writing what you intend the chord to be. If you want C to be the root note for an Am chord, then use C6. If you’re putting C at the bass end (aka as the lowest tone), but A is still the technical root, then Am-1 works just as well. Don't be too picky when the context is what really matters.

The Practical Side

The above chords are all in the key of C. Notice how the Maj6 chords are all inversions of a minor chord. Since we get a little of both major and minor flavor within the Maj6, we can treat the Maj6 as a pivot point. Think of it like this, if F6 is an inversion of Dm, then we can use each Maj6 as a substitute for the corresponding minor chord. The cool thing about this is that it has all the feeling that a minor chord provides with the sound rooted in major. Let’s try this out with a song.

Below are three audio tracks and the chord formats for two guitars. The first track is the rhythm guitar. This part is mostly major chords with a laid back rhythm and tempo. Overall, the rhythm guitar is upbeat due to a solid foundation in C Major. The only parts that touch on minor are Em, Dm, and a borrowed Fm. Borrowing the Fm from C Natural Minor allows this song to end in a “minor plagal cadence” of iv to I.

The second track is the melody guitar. This time Maj6 chords are used as inversions of minor chords, so F6 can be thought of as Dm/F (or Dm “over” F since the note F is in the bass). G6 and Em/B are other uses of Maj6 and inversion structures. C add9 brings in some brightness to counter the minor sound within the Maj6 structures. Bars 12 and 16 introduce a Dm7b5, which is also from C Natural Minor.

The final track is both parts played together. Be sure to listen to each part separately so that you can hear the sound of major in the rhythm, the sound of minor within the melody’s Maj6 usage, and then the result of combining these two ideas. The final mix of both parts takes a major tonal center of C Major and allows it to mellow out through the use of Maj6 chords, inversions, and a few borrowed chords from C Natural Minor.

Rhythm Guitar

Melody Guitar

Both Guitars

And with that, thanks for reading. Until next time.