Resolution and the Dominant 7 Chord Video Lecture - The Ultimate Guitar

today we're gonna talk about resolution
but not like the resolution I made in
2015 to stop selling human organs on the
black market or the resolution I made in
2016 to stop eating the organs I was no
longer selling on the black market we're
going to talk about resolution in music
and specifically how we can use dominant
7 chords to achieve resolution so what
is resolution technically what it is
when you take a dissonant sound and make
it kind of take it home and kind of give
it like I kind of think of it as like a
fitting ending right like if you play
just like a g7 quarter there's tension
there's like a there's like a slight
dissonance where it's not over and just
bothers you until you kind of hit like
the tonic or the one chord right so what
I played there was a C major to resolve
that g7 a of g7 and then it resolves it
on a C right it's kind of like a fitting
end right now the reason that this is it
always happens on the five chord if
you're talking about like a major key or
something like that right so if we're in
the key of C C is one D is two e is
three F is four and G is 5 that 5 chord
is where the dominant 7 chord exists
that's why g7 you'll see a lot in songs
with the CEO usually right before a C
chord because that chord isn't done and
it's kind of like a it's kind like a
jerk move to end a song a dominant 7
chord you need to resolve it I mean you
don't need to resolve it but it's a good
idea to kind of think about if you care
about who's listening to your music at
all right so why why is this what's
where's the dissonance coming from if
you saw my video on dominant 7 chords
and how to make them you'll know that
really a dominant 7 chord is just a
major chord with a minor 7 that's why
it's very common in like blues music to
see like a lot of like where everything
is kind of like a 7 chord because as our
buddy Ian likes to say all the time the
blues music is the minor scale over a
major chord what's minor about a
dominant 7 chord is that 7th note like
if we look at the key of C which are
just all the notes c d e f g a b the g
chord is really a G major chord a g7
chord as a G of the
and that note right there that ass makes
it kind of dissonant right and that's
where the resolution comes into you so
something to think about if you have
ambitions to write songs and stuff like
that how you get home kind of making it
kind of throwing the song on the side a
little bit is incorporating dominant
seven chords in your playing but that's
not really all I want to talk about
because I want to talk about how you can
resolve on like a minor key - alright so
for instance let's take that same key of
C but let's really use it let's think of
it as the key of a-minor which again a
minor and C major are the exact same
notes so the same chords populate them
if you're not going outside of the key
but this is kind of like an interesting
way where you can use down to seven
chords to go outside of the key so what
I mean by that is let's take a
progression where we start with a minor
and then maybe like I see you and then
in g7 right if we use the the dominant
chord in there and try to end and
resolve on a minor if that's where our
tonal center is it ends up something
like this with a minor
[Music]
it doesn't totally sound like it
resolves are you still might want to go
to the sea to make it major so in my
opinion the the presence of a Dominus
seven on the five board is kind of tough
to resolve on the minor chord in the key
which is the six note the the relative
minor so that's kind of one thing think
about how do you resolve on a minor
chord and this is we're taking a minor
chords dominant kind of partner chord
comes in handy yet and it still happens
on the five so if you think of a right
and if we think of in the key of a minor
we have an ABCD so the fifth of an a is
an e now in the key of C ease chord is
an e minor so if you wanted to kind of
like set an a minor up to resolve
somewhere you could always go D minor to
a minor and you can kind of just hear
the mad at that this is a g7 to a minor
or on an e minor to a right they kind of
give you different types of resolution
because there are different types of
resolution it's not always about going
home there are different ways you can
perceive it and kind of how you perceive
that is what could give you like a voice
is like a a composer arranger a
songwriter something like that but now
if we're going outside of the key we can
take a minor chords dominant seven and I
kind of use it that way right so we said
that the five of a minor is an E but the
five of a major is going to be an E
major right so like if we were in the
key of a major
it's Dominic or just come out we talked
about with the g7 and the C would be an
e7 so like an e7 you should probably
know this one it's to a open D 1g
[Music]
kinda resolves on an a right but the
cool thing is if you want to use the
outside of a scale we can use the same
v7 chord to resolve an a minor even
though an e7 chord isn't in the key of a
minor if you use the notes diatonically
so to speak you can always get around by
using a dominant 7th chord in a
different spot to achieve that same type
of resolution right so if we have that
same progression we have like a minor
energy
I kind of snuck that be seven in there
real quick even though it's not in the
scale because I have this G sharp G
sharp is not in the key of C or the key
of a-minor you can sneak it in there
really quick to add dissonance that
resolves and you can use that with
anything so if you want to kind of like
maybe go outside of a Kealing borrow a
chord some people use that terminology
to do that you can always do that with a
dominant seven chord and different chord
voicings will really help you out with
this especially if you're doing key
changes it's a great way to kind of
leave and come back to somewhere right I
like for example let's take a different
chord progression maybe like something
in the key of D right and we'll do it
with like Barre chords down the neck so
if we have like a D to a B minor the
five of D would be a d e f g a right so
the natural thing thing would be like
okay I want a great distance I'm gonna
add this a seven and then resolve on the
D right but let's say that like you
really want to kind of like work that be
in where would you find that all right
so you look at a B and then you kind of
like figures to be right here and where
is this five one two three four five you
kind of see you this ends up being the
ninth fret on the a string which is an
f-sharp right so you can add an f-sharp
dominant seven and then resolve that on
a b minor or you could add the a
to the D right so that's kind of like a
good example of kind of being in the
same realm the same space kind of
thinking even though you're going
outside of the kiya and getting
different types of resolution so we've
got this F sharp 7 to a B minor and then
at a 7 to a D major and kind of like
just making these like little kind of
changes within a composition I think can
make a big difference in your playing
and to kind of get away from everything
sounding the same with like open chords
and stuff like that to you
so it's just one thing to think about
and you know you can kind of go on and
on and go to like down to nine chords
stuff like that but I think using
dominant seven chords and just throwing
them around the neck even if they're not
in the key you're working with is a
great way to start understanding the
relationship between you know different
chords and stuff like that you know
maybe you want to like and something on
was called the sub-dominant which would
be the four chord right so this is like
a lot of different things and knowing
the terminology and kind of knowing how
they work traditionally there's a great
way to open up a gateway into
songwriting or composition or just kind
of like play more fluidly all over the
neck