Chord Progression Resolutions (Kindergarten ii-V-I )

[Moe45673]

I decided to review how the notes in these chords theoretically resolve.

Started with V7-I(maj7), as it's easier to hear and therefore analyze.

G7 - C: G-B-D-F to C-E-G.
- 3rd and 7th of dom chord resolve nicely, B as leading tone and F down to E.
- It can also be thought of as the D and F from V7 being suspended notes of the I chord.
What about Cmaj7? Less resolution here. If still want to have that leading tone thingie and be fancypants, maybe 6/9 chord. That will lose the D to E resolution, but no biggie.

Dm7 - G7: D-F-A-C to G-B-D-F
- 3rd and 7th of ii7 do not resolve nicely. The third (F) stays (same problem as V7-I(maj7) ). The 7th (C) resolves nicely to 3rd of V7 (B).
- What about A? That can, again, be thought of as a suspended note of the dom7 chord. So that resolves.
- So where does the G note come from? It must come from the F of the ii....... so even though F remains, it also provides a sense of tension that is resolved? In which case, that should work for V7-I(maj7) too. But it doesn't :\

dunno, stream of consciousness. All based on my own hypotheses formulated in my musical echo chamber of me, myself, and I. Any flaws in this?

 

[Eagle]

Just play Dorian on the 2 melodic minor down a half step on the 5 and straight major on the one.

 

[Sascha Franck]

What about Cmaj7? Less resolution here. If still want to have that leading tone thingie and be fancypants, maybe 6/9 chord. That will lose the D to E resolution, but no biggie.

One of the reasons why altered option notes were "invented" (they actually were more like a "oh, look what I've found" thing...).
In case of a G7 to Cmaj7 progression, you might want to add a #9 (A#) to the picture, nicely resolving upwards to the maj7 (B).
And once you're in full altered mode, you can take that approach further.
- b9 (Ab) resolves to either G (5th of Cj7) or A (6th) nicely.
- b5 (Db) resolves to either D (9th of Cj7) or C (root...) nicely.
- #5 (D#) resolves to either D (9th) or E (3rd) nicely.

- So where does the G note come from? It must come from the F of the ii....... so even though F remains, it also provides a sense of tension that is resolved? In which case, that should work for V7-I(maj7) too. But it doesn't :\

Well, in case you do it "the jazzy way", the G might not be part of the chord anyway (unless it's supposed to be the melody note), so there's no need to smoothly move into it half- or whole-stepwise. Turns into a bass dutie - and second-wise movements are less of an issue here.

Alternatively, if you wanted the fullblown chromatic movement, you possibly wouldn't play G7 anymore but reach for it's tritone substitute (Db7), allowing you for a full stop chromatic root note movement (D, Db, C) as well.

Whatever, once you stay diatonic, some movements simply turn out to be simpler, resulting in less tension/release events.
In general, it needs to be said that 4 part chords (usually 7th chords) are getting along easier with other 4 part chords. Resolving a 4 part chord such as G7 into a 3 part chord such as C will either lead to doubled notes or loss of "fullness".

Anyhow, here's how things usually resolve (valid for each inversion you may start with), notes read as on staff, so the first chord displays a Dm7 in root position (followed by G7 in 2nd inversion and a Cmaj7 in root position again).
C - B - B
A - G - G
F - F - E
D - D - C
These are following the "lowest amount of movement" idea, which, at least in my personal book, is a nice thing to at least start with.

And as this is a guitar centric forum, if you wanted to play these on a guitar (quite difficult for the G7), you'd usually go for a drop 2 voicing, "dropping" the second voice (from top) down an octave, which makes them all playable quite easily:
C - B - B
F - F - E
D - D - C
A - G - G

Stupid audio example (e-piano as above, guitar as above, guitar in context):

 

[Ed DeGenaro]

Just play Dorian on the 2 melodic minor down a half step on the 5 and straight major on the one.

Mel. Min up a half on the 5 you mean I’d say.

 

[Eagle]

Mel. Min up a half on the 5 you mean I’d say.

That’s right, I did mean that. ( but hey that’s just one note different .)

 

[Ed DeGenaro]

I decided to review how the notes in these chords theoretically resolve.

Started with V7-I(maj7), as it's easier to hear and therefore analyze.

G7 - C: G-B-D-F to C-E-G.
- 3rd and 7th of dom chord resolve nicely, B as leading tone and F down to E.
- It can also be thought of as the D and F from V7 being suspended notes of the I chord.
What about Cmaj7? Less resolution here. If still want to have that leading tone thingie and be fancypants, maybe 6/9 chord. That will lose the D to E resolution, but no biggie.

Dm7 - G7: D-F-A-C to G-B-D-F
- 3rd and 7th of ii7 do not resolve nicely. The third (F) stays (same problem as V7-I(maj7) ). The 7th (C) resolves nicely to 3rd of V7 (B).
- What about A? That can, again, be thought of as a suspended note of the dom7 chord. So that resolves.
- So where does the G note come from? It must come from the F of the ii....... so even though F remains, it also provides a sense of tension that is resolved? In which case, that should work for V7-I(maj7) too. But it doesn't :\

dunno, stream of consciousness. All based on my own hypotheses formulated in my musical echo chamber of me, myself, and I. Any flaws in this?

 

[Ed DeGenaro]

That’s right, I did mean that. ( but hey that’s just one note different .)

Actually for what’s it worth I like Mel min down a whole step

 

[Eagle]

Actually for what’s it worth I like Mel min down a whole step

I’ll give it a go.

 

[Ed DeGenaro]

I’ll give it a go.

Think about it this way there is a logical relation.
You have your Mel.min up a half-step
Ab-6 over G7 makes it G7♭9+
Move it down a ♭3 to F-6 makes it G7sus♭9

it also is the the half-step up to E7. The one being the V of major the other the V of minor.

You can add the tritone sub the you get D-6 or D♭7♭9+ etc…

Also F-6 is Dø. all off these are built of the °7 a half step up.
And for that you can play minor penta, Blues, Dorian on all 4 options all day long without going to Mel. Min hallo Benson.

Like over 2-5-1 D, F, A Dorian lines or F, Ab, Dorian C major etc.

 

[Eagle]

Think about it this way there is a logical relation.
You have your Mel.min up a half-step
Ab-6 over G7 makes it G7♭9+
Move it down a ♭3 to F-6 makes it G7sus♭9

it also is the the half-step up to E7. The one being the V of major the other the V of minor.

You can add the tritone sub the you get D-6 or D♭7♭9+ etc…

Also F-6 is Dø. all off these are built of the °7 a half step up.
And for that you can play minor penta, Blues, Dorian on all 4 options all day long without going to Mel. Min hallo Benson.

Like over 2-5-1 D, F, A Dorian lines or F, Ab, Dorian C major etc.

Sounds really interesting and not too out even it you just use the base idea . Thanks,