Major 7th sus4
maj7sus4
0 - 5 - 7 - 11Sus4 + major 7th
About Major 7th sus4
A major seventh sus4 chord replaces the third of a major seventh with the fourth — in C that is C, F, G and B, written Cmaj7sus4. Every note belongs to the key of C, and yet the chord is the tensest suspension in the catalogue, because the fourth and the seventh are a tritone apart.
Notes and formula
The formula is 1 – 4 – 5 – 7, or 0 – 5 – 7 – 11 in semitones. The third is replaced by the fourth and the seventh stays major.
F and B are six semitones apart — the tritone of the key of C, sitting inside a chord built on the tonic. That is unusual: suspensions normally remove tension by removing the third, and this one introduces a different tension instead.
How to play it
On guitar the shape is x–3–3–0–0–x, sounding C–F–G–B. Like its sus2 relative it is easy and rings, which is why it appears in acoustic and worship writing more often than its rarity in theory would predict.
On piano the chord wants the F and the B far apart. Voiced closely they sound like a mistake; spread across two hands they sound like a deliberate suspension.
Where it sits in a key
A major seventh with a suspended fourth is fully diatonic: in the key of C every one of its notes belongs. That makes it available anywhere without borrowing, and it explains why it turns up in modal and folk writing that avoids chromatic harmony altogether.
Functionally it is a tonic that has not settled. The B pulls upward and the F downward, and resolving F to E produces a plain Cmaj7 — the most common thing to do with the chord.
How it sounds
Suspended and bright at once. Because there is no third the chord has no quality, but the tritone gives it a direction that most suspensions lack, so it reads as a chord in motion rather than a chord at rest.
Held for a whole bar it starts to sound like an unresolved question, which is exactly what film and worship writing use it for.
Against the neighbours
C7sus4 is C–F–G–B♭ and is the gospel chord: no tritone, no urgency. Cmaj7sus4 raises that seventh to B and acquires a tritone against the F.
Cmaj7sus2 has no tritone at all. Among the three suspended sevenths this one is the only one that genuinely wants to move.
Scales that contain it
Ionian fits exactly — the chord is built entirely from it. Dorian and Mixolydian each contradict one note, and Lydian contradicts the fourth, which is the chord's defining tone.
That makes it, unusually, a chord tied to the plain major scale: the mode that suits it best is the one most other extended chords try to escape.
Frequently asked questions
What notes are in a Cmaj7sus4 chord?
C, F, G and B. On guitar, x–3–3–0–0–x.
Why does a suspended chord sound tense here?
Because the fourth and the major seventh are a tritone apart. Most suspensions remove tension along with the third; this one replaces it with a different tension.
How does it resolve?
Usually the fourth falls to the third, turning the chord into a plain major seventh. The B stays where it is.