rjthakid wrote:
The Reason why the dominant (or 'V') chord resolves so nicely to the 'I'
Before this discussions goes on any further, let me clear something up that people misinterpret a lot.
A dominant chord wants to resolve to 4 of the chord, not always to 1. This goes for any dominant chord in any key. Now, if that resolution chord happens to be a 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7 then that is great. But, make sure yall understand
exactly where a dominant chord wants to resolve to. All the other information is correct about the 3rd note being the leading tone. Let's look at some examples:
C / C-Eb-G (C minor chord)
C / C-E-G (C major chord, Eb becomes E, which is leading tone in key of F)
or
Bb / C-E-G (C7 chord, same other stuff as above)
F / C-F-A (resolves to 4 of C, which is F)
D / D-F-A (D minor chord)
D / D-F#-A ( D major chord, F becomes F#, which is leading tone in the key of G)
or
C / D-F#-A (D7 chord, same other stuff as above)
G / D-G-B (resolves to 4 of D, which is G)
Bb / Bb-Db-F (Bb minor chord)
Bb / Bb-D-F ( Bb major chord, Db becomes D, which is leading tone in the key of Eb)
or
Ab / Bb-D-F (Bb7 chord, same other stuff as above)
Eb / Bb-Eb-G (resolves to 4 of Eb)
Yall see what I mean? Key is really irrelevent for where a dominant chord or a dominant 7th chord wants to resolve to cuz that resolution chord ain't always 1. The reason why I say "wants to resolve" because depending on the key you could resolve to 3 or 6. Here is an illustration using one of the above examples:
C / C-Eb-G (C minor chord)
Bb / C-E-G (C7 chord, Eb becomes E, which is leading tone in key of F)
F / C-F-A (resolves to 4 of C, which is F)
or
*A / C-F-A (resolves to
6 in the key of C or
3 in the key of F)
*Notice that the RH part of the chord is still 4 in the key of C, but since there is an A in the bass, it changes the entire chord to 3 or 6 depending on what key you in. In other words, it is an inversion.
You see that? The resolution chord can be so many things other than 1, but it can also resolve to 1 or 5. Let me show you:
C / C-Eb-G (C minor chord)
C / C-E-G (C major chord, Eb becomes E, which is leading tone in key of F)
*C / C-F-A (resolves to
1 in the key of C or
5 in the key of F)*Notice that the RH part of the chord is still 4 in the key of C, but since there is a C in the bass, it changes the entire chord to a 1 or 5 depending on what key you in. In other words, it is also an inversion.
Now, I have just showed you that a dominant chord can resolve to 1, 3, 5, and 6. You can also keep that secondary dominant principle going on forever if you wanted to. Here it is:
C / C-Eb-G
C / C-E-G or Bb / C-E-G
F / C-F-Ab
F / C-F-A or Eb / C-F-A
Bb / Db-F-Bb
Bb / D-F-Bb or Ab / D-F-Bb
Eb / Eb-Gb-Bb
Eb / Eb-G-Bb or Db / Eb-G-Bb
Ab / Eb-Ab-Cb
Ab / Eb-Ab-C or Gb / Eb-Ab-C
Db / Fb-Ab-Db
Db / F-Ab-Db or Cb / F-Ab-Db
Gb / Gb-Bbb-Db
Gb / Gb-Bb-Db or Fb / Gb-Bb-Db
F# / F#-A-C#
F# / F#-A#-C# or E / F#-A#-C#
B / F#-B-D
B / F#-B-D# or A / F#-B-D#
E / G-B-E
E / G#-B-E or D / G#-B-E
A / A-C-E
A / A-C#-E or G / A-C#-A
D / A-D-F
D / A-D-F# or C / A-D-F#
G / Bb-D-G
G / B-D-F or F / B-D-F
(repeat, you are back to where you started from)
Does that make sense? This thing gets real deep and you can get lost if you ain't careful. Once you understand how to utilize dominants and secondary dominants, it opens up a whole new world of music. Richard Smallwood, Daryl Coley, Kurt Carr, etc. all these great gospepl music artists use secondary dominants a lot, a whole lot. If anybody needs more help with this, let me know, but I think this post explains it all.
