Dominant chords have been used in all genres of music for hundreds of years, including classical, jazz, pop, RnB, neo-soul, gospel and more. The basic idea here is that when we create music, it is nice to create a feeling of tension, which can then be released or resolved beautifully. And one very effective way that we can create tension is by using dominant chords.
For example, if we play a dominant 7th chord on the 5th scale degree, we can then resolve this back to a 1 major chord. In this case, the dominant chord provides tension or dissonance and the 1 major chord provides that 'return to home' feeling. And if this doesn't make sense to you just yet, don't worry, we'll be explaining all the basic theory behind dominant chords, so that you can start introducing this feeling of tension & release into your own music.
G DOMINANT 7TH (TENSION)
C MAJOR (RELEASE)
** Please note that this is just a very basic example of tension & release which can be used for learning purposes. When we use beautiful chord voicings & nice voice leading, it can help to improve the overall sound & smoothness of our chords **
We will be covering these dominant chords:
Dominant 7th Dominant 9th
Dominant 11th(sus) Dominant 13th
* We will also be discussing when to play dominant chords as well as how to resolve them *
Dominant 7th Chords
A dominant 7th chord is made up of a 1-3-5-b7 (C-E-G-Bb). This chord is constructed by firstly creating a major triad (1-3-5 or C-E-G) and then we add a b7 note from the C major scale (Bb). And if you play this piano chord, just by itself, you can really hear that b7 note giving you a tension based sound.
In other words, the dominant 7th chord can help you to create dissonance, which can sound very nice once we resolve this, either to a major or minor chord. This is what brings that sense of release that we spoke about earlier.
C MAJOR SCALE
C DOMINANT 7TH (C7)
Pro Tip - Try playing around with the inversions of this chord, for more sound flexibility - C7 inversions are here ** We are going to talk about how to resolve dominant chords a little further down **
Dominant 9th Chords
A dominant 9th chord is made up of a 1-3-5b7-9 (C-E-G-Bb-D). Essentially, we are adding the 9th note of the major scale to a dominant 7th chord. When playing this chord, some people like to omit the 5th note which just leaves C-E-Bb-D, but this is a personal decision that needs to be made, based on what you are playing and the type of sound you want to create.
A dominant 9th chord will give you a similar, but slightly different sound to the dominant 7th chord, due to the 9th note being added. So now, we have a very simple way to produce a little extra sound variety in our playing, because we can choose between a dominant 7th sound or a dominant 9th sound, depending on the context of what we are playing.
C MAJOR SCALE (+ EXTENSIONS)
C DOMINANT 9TH (C9)
Dominant 11th Chords
A dominant 11th chord is made up of the 1-3-5-b7-9-11 notes from the major scale (C-E-G-Bb-D-F) but normally the 3rd note is left out, as it tends to clash with the 11th note. Having the added 11th note creates a suspended feeling to this piano chord, which is why the dominant 11th chord is often referred to as a dominant sus chord.
By adding the 11th note to this chord, this now gives us two tension notes. We already know that the b7 creates tension and so now, we have the added suspense & tension coming from the 11th note. And this is precisely why this chord is so appealing to use, because when we resolve it properly, it can offer stunning results.
Pro Tip1 - The dominant 11th chord is normally played without the 3rd note because it clashes with the 11th. Pro Tip2 - It may be easier to think about this as a C major triad PLUS Bb major triad. This is called a polychord. ** We are going to talk about how to resolve dominant chords a little further down **
Dominant 13th Chords
In theory, dominant 13th chords are made up of the 1-3-5-b7-9-11-13 notes of the major scale (C-E-G-Bb-D-F-A) but in practice, there are a great many different ways that we can play or voice our dominant 13th chords. Most commonly, people tend to omit the 11th note from this chord, which leaves us with 1-3-5-b7-9-13 or C-E-G-Bb-D-A.
It is also quite common to omit the 5th note which means that we would be left with 1-3-b7-9-13 or C-E-Bb-D-A in the key of C major and again, there are many different ways that we can voice this chord to give us a variety of different sounds.
C DOMINANT 13TH(C13)
C DOMINANT 13TH (C13)
Pro Tip - For the full 13th dominant chord, we can think of this as being a C major triad with a Bb major 7th chord being played on top OR we can think about this as being a C dominant 7th chord with a D minor on top. This is now a polychord.
Resolving Dominant Chords
At this point, we understand that dominant chords are a great way for us to add tension to our music and we also understand the basic dominant chord options that are available to us. But when do we play these piano chords? And how do we resolve the tension? That's what we are going to talk about now.
1) Resolving to the 1 chord
Firstly, when playing & resolving dominant chords, it is important to understand the 5 to 1 relationship. For example, if we are playing in the key of C major and we are playing a 1-4-6-5 chord progression, it would look something like this:
When you look at this basic progression, you can see that it finishes on a 5 chord and that it starts on a 1 chord. So, when we play this progression over and over again, we are going from a 5 chord to a 1 chord, which is a 5 to 1 relationship.
So, instead of playing a normal G major chord, we can swap this out for a G dominant chord (as our 5 chord). This helps us to create some tension and this will be released when we resolve back to the 1 major chord. Please know here that there are many different ways to play this basic 5 to 1 movement, with our variety of dominant chords & major chords.
Pro Tip 1 - Try playing a 2 minor extended chord before your 5 dominant chord to create a 251 progression. Pro Tip2 - Try playing a 4 major extended chord (the sub-dominant) prior to playing a 5 dominant chord. Pro Tip 3 - Always try to use good voice leading so that your chord transitions sound super smooth.
2) Other Resolutions
When we resolve a 5th dominant to a 1 major chord (i.e. a 5 to 1 resolution) the sound will no doubt be very familiar, simply because its been used so many times. Sure, we can mix up the types of dominant chords we play and yes, we can resolve this to any number of major chord extensions but it will always sound like a 5 to 1 resolution, which can be predictable.
Therefore, there can be times when we want to resolve to a chord which is not so predictable. And whilst there are many ways that we can do this, there are a few easy to learn options for those who are just starting out. For example, here are some resolutions that can help us to move away from a simple 5 to 1 resolution:
Progression 1 - C major 9th -> A minor 7th -> F major 9th -> G dominant -> A minor 11th Progression 2 - C major 9th -> A minor 7th -> F major 9th -> G dominant -> F major 9th
In musical theory, we call both of these resolutions a deceptive cadence. Instead of going from the G dominant to a C major (a 5 to 1 cadence), we are resolving to a 6 minor or a 4 major chord, which is a surprise resolution (a deceptive cadence).
Pro Tip - In between the G dominant and A minor resolution, we can also use a secondary dominant (as a passing chord) to help us transition into the A minor chord with more complexity & sophistication.
Using Secondary Dominant Chords
So far, we have learnt that a 5 chord can always be played as a dominant chord to add tension, which can then be released by resolving to a 1 major chord or to the 6 minor chord / 4 major chord (depending on the context of what we are playing).
And whilst this is a great way to start playing around with dominant chords, we can also play dominant chords as 'secondary dominants'. To help demonstrate this, let's take a few simple chord progression and then we will add in some secondary dominants as passing chords to these progressions.
Simple progression1 - C major 7th -> A minor 11th -> F major 7th -> G major With dominants - C major 7th -> E dominant -> A minor 11th -> C dominant -> F major 7th -> D dominant -> G major
Simple progression2 - C major 7th -> D minor 7th -> E minor 7th -> D minor 7th With dominants - C major 7th -> A dominant -> D minor 7th -> B dominant -> E minor 7th -> Eb minor 7th -> D minor 7th
Did you notice?
That each secondary dominant is a 5th above / a 4th below the target chord? That we have covered all of the secondary dominant chords for the key of C major? That the Eb minor 7th chord is not a secondary dominant but a chromatic slide passing chord? How important it is to have nice smooth chord transitions, with good voice leading? That we deliberately excluded the dominant Xth from these chords? There are many options.
Using Dominant 'Slide' Passing Chords
So far, we have learnt that we can resolve dominant chords with a 5 dominant to 1 major resolution and we also learnt how to resolve a 5th dominant to a 6 minor or a 4 major (with a deceptive cadence). And we just learnt how to use secondary dominant chords (as passing chords) which is another way to resolve dominant chords.
So now, there is one more technique that we would like to share with you which we like to call 'the dominant slide'. For example, if we want to use this technique to slide into a 1 major chord or a 4 major chord, we simply play a dominant 7th chord, a half step below (as a passing chord) so that we 'slide' into the 1 or 4 major chord. For example:
Example 1 - To get into a C major chord -> Use a B dominant chord as a passing chord Example 2 - To get into an F major chord -> Use a E dominant chord as a passing chord
Pro Tip1 - Try playing around with different chord voicings & inversions for good voice leading. Pro Tip2 - Try resolving into a nice major 6/9 voicing for a smooth sounding transition.
Altered Dominant Chords
We understand that we have just shared LOTS of information about dominant chords, including the different types of dominant chords that are available to you, how & when to play dominant chords and how to resolve these chords, in a number of different ways. So now, rather than overloading you with information, we recommend that you take whatever time you need to sit with this new information and learn the different varieties of dominant chords.
When you feel ready to continue learning about dominant chords, you are now ready to move into our altered chords page, where we will share how to make a series of minor alterations to these dominant piano chord structures, so that you can add added sophistication, differing degrees of tension and more harmonic complexity to your piano chords.
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