Chord Leading

What is chord leading?

It is the tendency for one chord to lead to the next chord. It is the feeling that it needs to move somewhere else.

How does chord leading?

Leading and resolution are directly tied to one another. As you know, the leading tone is the 7th tone of the scale, or the 7th chord of the progression. Well, honestly all notes have a tendency to go somewhere. Some have stronger tendencies than others. The strongest tendency to resolve is from the 7th tone. The reason this is because the 7th is one half step up from the tonic or root.

Which chords lead to which?

Well, that is the whole reason for this section. To find out what leads to what and to a lesser degree, why. It has to do with resolution, though. As we'll see.

Chord resolution

Resolution is the need to end up somewhere (on a particular note.) Chords resolve to othe chords more stable in the key. Sometimes you use a chord that isn't even in the key and they have to be resolved to a chord in key. You can have subtle and smooth resolution or strong resolution. Subtle resolution is generally done in half steps. This is why the 7th chord is called the leading tone, because it leads or resolves so naturally to the tonic. The 5th to the 1st would be considered a strong resolution.

What do all those names mean? (TONIC, SUPERTONIC, MEDIANT, etc...)?

Each one of these terms describes a relationship between it and the tonic or root of the chord / key. In our discussion of the chord flow chart, I'll explain what each one means and does in detail.

Do I need to know what they mean?

No, not really. You can learn by ear what strength each of these chords does in relation to the tonic. That's the main reason I had you go through all of those chord cadences above, to gain that feel. Gaining this feel is one of the hardest things to do. But once you do doors will open for you musically.

Chord Leading Chart

• The following chart DOES NOT explain what chords HAVE to do.
• This is simply a chart explaining how strong of a relationship the chords in a key have with regards to leading and cadences.
• Any of these chords CAN RESOLVE DIRECTLY TO THE TONIC. But the further away the chord lies from the tonic, the stronger it is on its own it is or less it needs to be resolved to the tonic.
• The chord next to it is the most natural move to get it to the tonic.

Basically this chart shows the PATH OF LEAST RESISTANCE.

TONIC CATEGORY: (RESTFUL CATEGORY)

The TONIC is home base. All roads lead to here. The 3 can resolve anywhere. It is the closest related chord to the tonic so it stands alone best. That's why it's furthest away. It shares the 3-5 tones of the tonic. Very consonant. Often used to replace the tonic in a progression. The 6 most naturally moves to the 2 chord. But, sometimes it shows up in the SUBDOMINANT CATEGORY. If this happens it progresses to the 5th chord nicely. The 3 (mediant) and the 6 (submediant) are separated by a fifth. We'll talk a little more about this in the Circle of Fifths lesson. The chords in this section share 2 common tones, none of which are the 4 tone. The four tone is restless so these all have a restful feel, as if they didn't need to go anywhere. So basically you can move to any chord from these without sounding bad.

SUBDOMINANT CATEGORY: (MODERATE MOVEMENT)

The 2 (supertonic) is a very common chord used. And it is usually followed by 5 (dominant) it shares 2 notes with this chord. Also if you move up one 5th degree from the 5th or the root, you get to the second. So basically it's 2 5ths away from the root. This makes the ii - V - I one of the most common progressions. The 4 (subdominant) is a feel good tone. If we resolve from the 4 to the tonic directly, we get a very smooth, calming effect. Often called the "Amen" cadence. Otherwise it most naturally resolves or leads to the dominant 5th. So the ii and the IV share the 4 tone, which causes them to have a similar restless feel.

DOMINANT CATEGORY:

These are the chords that most WANT to go to the tonic. The dominant shares one note with the tonic and that is the 5 tone. Otherwise it contains the 7 leading tone. Both of these notes make this chord resolve very strongly to the tonic. Remember of course it can move to other chords as well but it makes a loud statement when it move to the tonic. The leading chord contains no shared notes with the tonic. But it does have two notes that resolve 1/2 step up. Remember we said that 1/2 step resolutions are very smooth and logical. This is where the 7 chord (leading chord, not a 7th chord) comes in. It feels like it needs to go "home."