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Categories > Harmony & Theory > I-I7-IV7-bVI7-I
 
 


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MainDroite

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Posts: 3
Posted Reply with quote  #1 
Hi everyone !
So, there you have a progression in E major that goes like :

G#-7 |C#-7|F#-7|B7|Emaj7 (up to here, it's quite a normal progression, then it goes on like this : )
E7|A7|C7|Emaj7

My question here is why do I feel C7 resolve to Emaj7 so smoothly ? Why does it sound so good ?
I understand that the natural C (bVi) in an Emaj progression makes us want to go down chromatically to B, the fifth of Emaj. But surely there's more to it than just this ?

Thanks for answering !
JM
bishopdm

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Posts: 244
Posted Reply with quote  #2 
Hi JM:

In "traditional" harmony, it was very common for a sonority that sounds like C7 (but spelled differently) to resolve to an E-major triad in second inversion (I6/4, with the fifth in the bass).  The voice leading was very smooth (C to B, E common tone, B-flat [spelled as A-sharp] to B-natural, G to G-sharp).  The "C7" sonority is called an augmented sixth chord (this type being the "German" variety, but that's not important).  Our modern ears readily accept motion from C7 to E based on this—which you've probably heard passively thousands of times in your life...you just weren't aware of it—even if the strict voice leading isn't present.  Does this help?
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David Bishop
Tucson, AZ
MainDroite

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Posted Reply with quote  #3 
Yeah, I get this part. You mean it got used so much to resolve down a half step to the I6/4 that our ears simply absorbed it as a good resolution, even if the I chord is not inverted ?

But I still have trouble figuring out the voice-leading effect. I noticed that the triad G-Bb-E will resolve very smoothly to G#-B-E (I6/3).

That's an E diminised chord that resolves... to E Major ! Is that a piece of the puzzle ?
Jazzmarkus

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Posts: 15
Posted Reply with quote  #4 
BTW...There is a beautiful standard called "Out of nowhere" where this chord takes an important part. "Out of nowhere" is often played in G so the progression goes Eb7 to GMaj7. Often you hear this chord together with a m7 chord a fifth up:

Gm7-C7-Emaj7
Bbm7-Eb7-Gmaj7

There are pretty complex possibilties to explane where this progression comes from historically but it helps to just try and categories for oneself if it has a tonic a dominant or subdominant feel and I think if the C7 goes directly to Emaj7 the C7 has a subdominant character...at least to me.
It is a beautiful progression and there are endless ways to voicelead it espacially if you also take into account that you can put an A and/or a D into the C7 chord.
Liebe Grüße
Markus



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Markus Fleischer
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TLerch

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Posts: 251
Posted Reply with quote  #5 
I see the C7 as being part of the i diminished sound world. One of the diminished functions is i diminished resolving to I (major or minor).
 C7 is in the diminished cycle related to E diminished which to my ears sound like IV7 resolving to I as in a blues. I agree that the voice leading is smoothes when the C7 is in 1st inversion.
I appreciated all the other views on this thanks
 Tim
bishopdm

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Posts: 244
Posted Reply with quote  #6 
As so often happens, over time a purely linear event evolves into a stand-alone vertical structure, which is what has happened in the chord progression you're considering (C7 to E-major).  The strict voice leading is no longer adhered to and you are left with two root-position vertical sonorities that sound good together!  And I would agree that the C7 has a subdominant sound; that's what its function was when it started out as an augmented sixth chord (it most often preceded a dominant function sonority).

The diminished triad that is contained in the C7 chord (E-G-B-flat) is part of the diminished seventh chord—another linear chord—that is often referred to as a common-tone diminished seventh (another linear chord!) of the E-major triad.  In this relationship, one of the chord members functions as the leading tone to the third of the target chord, rather than the root.  Instead of the usual dominant function usually relegated to the diminished seventh chord, the common tone diminished seventh has more of a decorative effect, since they both contain the pitch E ("decorative" isn't the word I'm looking for, but I can't seem to drag it out of my brain this early).   So this explanation may work for you, also; although for me it's not as direct a relationship.
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David Bishop
Tucson, AZ
bishopdm

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Posted Reply with quote  #7 
Embellishment!  That's the word I was searching for!
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David Bishop
Tucson, AZ
klasaine

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Posts: 151
Posted Reply with quote  #8 
... and affectionately know as the "pineapple cadence". At least that's how an older musician I met probably 30 years ago referred to it. C / / / Ab7 / / / C. A lot of old time Hawaiian pop music used it. 

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ken lasaine
bishopdm

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Posted Reply with quote  #9 
Too cool! Do you recall any specific examples?
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David Bishop
Tucson, AZ
TLerch

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Posts: 251
Posted Reply with quote  #10 
the pop song Bye Bye Blues  which was a hit  by Les Paul and Mary Ford has that progression right of the bat. There are probably many others but that one comes to mind right away.
MainDroite

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Posted Reply with quote  #11 
I have found this other nice piece by a french left handed bassist :
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=154431926
Play Vilhuela de Mano. There's a small intro but the real song starts at 0:45.

There's something that looks like the pineapple cadence right at 0:52. Here Jacky used a IV minor 6/3 (Bb-D-G) to resolve back to Dmajor, the main tonality. The bass note, Bb, resolves to A, the fifth of DM. As I said, this isn't exactly it, but we still have our magic bVI note.

The effect is even more intense if you keep the top note, D, ringing through the cadence.

Anyway, thanks for all the answers, and the song suggestions. It's very appreciated.

JM
klasaine

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Posts: 151
Posted Reply with quote  #12 
Quote:
Originally Posted by TLerch
the pop song Bye Bye Blues  which was a hit  by Les Paul and Mary Ford has that progression right of the bat. There are probably many others but that one comes to mind right away.




Here's a great example featuring Sol Hoopii ...
 
://www.beerrecords.com/Videos.htm


If the 1st one didn't link immediately
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ken lasaine
bishopdm

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Posts: 244
Posted Reply with quote  #13 
Thanks, Klasaine. These are really great! Now I've added the term "pineapple cadence" to my lexicon.
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David Bishop
Tucson, AZ
Jazzmarkus

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Posts: 15
Posted Reply with quote  #14 
Hi,
I am listening to Mark's lesson tape March 22nd 1993. At about 17:00 Ted talks about the bVI7 as being Subdominant. He defines Subdominants as any chord that equally resolves to Tonic or Dominant. Briliant! He gives several examples for bVI7 going to I.

BTW: I am listening to those tapes and I take some notes in order to have an overview of the topics being adressed in those lessons. At the moment I am writing down, what songs Ted and Mark discuss on which tape. Has anybody else already started something like that?

Liebe Grüße
Markus






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Markus Fleischer
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skotrock

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Posts: 100
Posted Reply with quote  #15 
Thats incredible! I was listening to the exact same lesson this morning in my car on my ipod! I've been alternating a lesson and an album - these lessons are priceless. I keep a notepad in my car to make notes of things that turn on lightbulbs- there is an endless, overwhelming amount of riches here.
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