Adding a seventh to a triad changes what the chord is for. A triad can sit still; a seventh chord cannot, because the added note is a dissonance with a destination. That single fact explains the behaviour of every diatonic seventh chord in tonal music, including the ones that sound gentle.
\nStack one more third on each triad of a key and you get the full set.
\n| In major (C) | Notes | Quality | Usual job |
|---|---|---|---|
| Imaj7 | C E G B | major seventh | tonic colour, rarely a resting point |
| ii7 | D F A C | minor seventh | the standard predominant |
| iii7 | E G B D | minor seventh | weak tonic substitute, passing |
| IVmaj7 | F A C E | major seventh | predominant with a softer edge than V7 expects |
| V7 | G B D F | dominant seventh | the dominant, the strongest pull home |
| vi7 | A C E G | minor seventh | tonic substitute, often leading to ii |
| viiø7 | B D F A | half-diminished seventh | dominant function without the root |
| In minor (A) | Notes | Quality | Usual job |
|---|---|---|---|
| i7 | A C E G | minor seventh | tonic colour |
| iiø7 | B D F A | half-diminished seventh | predominant |
| III+maj7 | C E G♯ B | augmented major seventh | tonic area when the leading tone is in use |
| iv7 | D F A C | minor seventh | predominant, heavier than in major |
| V7 | E G♯ B D | dominant seventh | the dominant in minor |
| VImaj7 | F A C E | major seventh | tonic substitute |
| vii°7 | G♯ B D F | fully diminished seventh | dominant function without a root |
Minor is messier because the sixth and seventh scale degrees are flexible. The A minor key uses G♯ when the dominant needs a leading tone and G when the music leans toward the relative major, so a chord like III appears in two forms, C–E–G and C–E–G♯, and the second one takes a major seventh above it.
\nThe seventh of a chord is dissonant against the bass: in a root-position seventh chord it sounds a seventh above the root, which is a second below its octave. Dissonances of that kind resolve by step in the direction the interval leans, and a note that leans against the bass resolves downwards. The chordal seventh therefore falls by step into the third of whatever chord comes next, and composers arrange the next chord so that this resolution is already a chord tone.
\nThat is why the seventh is a compositional convenience rather than an obstacle. Because it must move, it guarantees that the next chord’s third is occupied by a real voice, and because it moves down by step, the motion is smooth. Chains of seventh chords with roots falling by fifth are the clearest result: every seventh resolves into the third of the following chord, and the whole sequence leads somewhere without any chord being static.
\nE minor seven, A minor seven, D minor seven, G seven, C. The bass falls by fifth at every step and each seventh sinks one degree into the next chord’s third.
\nThe dominant seventh contains both tendency tones of the key, scale degree 4 and the leading tone, and they form a tritone at the centre of the chord. Scale degree 4 falls to 3, the leading tone rises to 1, and the two voices move in contrary motion into the third of the tonic triad.
\nWhether that tritone appears as a diminished fifth or an augmented fourth depends on the inversion, and the difference matters to a singer reading intervals rather than a theorist reading a symbol. When the leading tone is the lower of the two notes, as in root position and in first inversion, the interval is a diminished fifth. When the seventh is the lower note, as in second and third inversion, it is an augmented fourth. The resolution is the same either way:
\nThat is a third-inversion dominant seventh resolving to a first-inversion tonic. The bass note is the seventh of the chord, so the bass itself makes the stepwise descent from scale degree 4 to 3.
\nTwo rules govern the tritone when it sits between the bass and an upper voice. A diminished fifth above the bass must resolve inward to a third; an augmented fourth above the bass must resolve outward to a sixth. Get that backwards and the interval will still look resolvable on paper while the voices collide in performance.
\nThe dominant seventh has four notes and the tonic triad has three, so one of them usually gives something up. In a strong cadence where the soprano takes the leading tone, the dominant seventh often appears without its fifth, the root doubled in its place. That version resolves to a complete tonic triad with its fifth present.
\nThe alternative is a complete dominant seventh resolving to a tonic with a doubled third and no fifth. Both solutions work, and both avoid the same trap: a seventh chord whose fifth is doubled or whose seventh is doubled will produce parallel octaves or a collision at the resolution, because two voices cannot both resolve the same obligation in the same direction without moving in parallel.
\nThis is also the answer to a question beginners ask about final chords. A tonic seventh chord at the end of a tonal phrase sounds open, because its seventh still has somewhere to go. The stable ending is the triad, not Imaj7.
\nEvery diatonic seventh chord has a habitual next chord, and the pattern is always the same: the seventh resolves, and the destination is chosen so that the resolution is consonant.
\nNone of these are fixed rules of harmony; they are consequences of the resolution. Any chord that contains the note the seventh is moving to will work, which is why hearing the seventh resolve is a more reliable guide to what comes next than memorising a chart.
\nDominant-function chords keep their obligations even when they resolve somewhere unexpected. In a deceptive resolution the dominant seventh moves to vi instead of I, and both tendency tones still do their job: the seventh falls to the fifth of vi and the leading tone rises to its third. The surprise lives entirely in the bass.
\nFour errors account for most of them.
\nDoubling the seventh. Two voices on the same dissonant note must both fall, and two voices falling the same distance create parallel motion, usually parallel octaves into the next chord. The seventh is never doubled.
\nLeaving the seventh unresolved. It can move to another chord tone of the next chord only if that tone lies a step below, which is rare. Otherwise the dissonance hangs in the air and the progression sounds unfinished.
\nTreating inversions as interchangeable. V4/2 in particular has a specific destination, the first-inversion tonic, because its bass is the seventh. Used elsewhere it produces a bass line that contradicts its own harmony.
\nForgetting that a diminished fifth and an augmented fourth need opposite treatment. One resolves inward, the other outward, and the two differ by a single inversion.
\nTry a four-chord exercise in C major: ii7, V7, Imaj7, IVmaj7. Play it, then sing the note that changes at each step. The seventh of ii7 becomes the third of V7; the seventh of V7 resolves into the tonic and the leading tone arrives with it; the new seventh on the tonic falls again into the subdominant. Once that chain of descending steps is audible rather than theoretical, seventh chords stop being chords with extra notes and start being chords with directions. The virtual piano is enough to check any of these progressions by ear, and secondary dominants covers what happens when the same mechanism is aimed at a tonic that is not the main one.
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