Notice
"Believe In Me". Short, but sweet...
Todd Rundgren had this complaint when listenining to mainstream Pop Music in the 1960's, which was, "All Right Hand Chords should be comprised of four Notes, and not Three!!". Evidently, this must be where he developed his signature style of Major 7th Chords, which is simply a string of four Natural 3rds, counting up from the Root note.
The Major 7th Chord always ends with the last note being a half-step below the root note, it has a very full feel to the Chord, where as a usual Rock/Blues 7th Chord (which is actually a flatted/diminished 7th) has that raw agressive feel to it, Maj 7th Chords seem very laid back.
In any case, "Believe In Me" is chock-full of Maj7th Chords from beginning to end, and displays Chord shapes in relation to the Bass Note.
You can get a good listen to "Believe In Me" on the 1999 Rundgren Compilation Disc (of Outtakes and "Live" Songs through the ages), which has Todd playing this song on Piano (his first broadcasted Radio Show/Concert, back in 1971 I believe), minus the Studio additional Instruments (Auto Harp, Flute, Guitar, Backing Vocals, etcetra)... It did help me get a great Isolation of the 'Piano Only' Bass Line.
