The V7 Chord: Down with the 7th!

Introducing the V7 Chord

The dominant seventh chord (V7) is arguably the strongest chord in all of tonal music. You can review how to build seventh chords in this music theory lesson.

In any given key, the V7 chord is formed by stacking thirds beginning with the dominant scale degree (). The result is a major-minor seventh chord containing scale degrees 5, 7, 2 and 4:

What makes the dominant seventh so strong? It has two very sensitive tones with strong tendencies:

the third of the chord, which is the leading tone (), and
the seventh of the chord ().

We won’t get into the psychological or acoustical reasons for these tendencies. We’ll just accept that, for whatever reason, we intuitively hear strong tendencies in these two tones.

Since it is common to confuse the seventh of the chord with scale degree 7 (which is the third of a V7 chord), it is very important to get the following straight in your mind before you continue:

The leading tone is scale degree 7 (). It is the third of the V7 chord.
The seventh of the V7 chord is scale degree 4 ( NOT ).

Up with the Leading Tone! (, the 3rd of the V7 Chord)

As we have seen in previous music theory lessons, the leading tone () has a strong tendency to resolve up by half-step to the tonic scale degree (). Listen to the following major scale that stops on before returning to .

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Notice how you intuitively complete the scale in your mind, since you hear the tendency of the leading tone to resolve to the tonic. Because of this tendency, the third of a V7 chord should resolve up by half-step to the tonic scale degree ():

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(In four-voice harmony, we’ll see, however, that there is an exception. When the third of the V7 chord is in an inner voice (the alto or the tenor), it may resolve down by third to the fifth of the tonic chord. We’ll discuss this in detail in the next lesson.)

Down with the Seventh! (, the 7th of the V7 Chord)

In traditional four-voice harmony, there are numerous rules and exceptions to those rules. After all, we’re talking about music not science. Rest assured, however, that this next principle has no exceptions:

The 7th of a seventh chord always resolves down by step.

Notice that I didn’t say “the 7th of a V7 chord.” That’s because this principle holds true for all seventh chords, not just the V7. Listen to Example 1 below. Each tone of the V7 chord is played one after the other (this is called an arpeggiation). See if you can hear the tendency of the 7th of the chord to resolve down by step. Example 2 adds the resolution.

Example 1

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Example 2

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The resolution of the 7th of the V7 chord is either down a half-step or down a whole-step, depending on whether the key is major or minor (again, more on this in the next lesson).

The Tritone Resolution

Do you remember the tritone interval? If not, you can review it in this music theory lesson. Some music theory textbooks teach the tritone method of resolving the V7 chord. It’s the exact same principle as what I have discussed already (the leading tone resolves up by step; the 7th resolves down by step), but a slightly different way of looking at it.

Depending on how the notes are arranged on the staff, and form either an +4 or a °5 interval. The +4 always expands (resolves outwardly to a 6th); the °5 always contracts (resolves inwardly to a 3rd):

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If the concept of the tritone resolution is confusing to you, don’t worry. Here’s a review of what you should understand before moving to progressions using the V7 chord:

The 3rd of a V7 chord (which happens to be , the leading tone) resolves up by half-step to .
The 7th of a V7 chord (which happens to be ) resolves down by step to .