Question:
Ok, so Ive just started serious study of diminished chords, and their fingerings.
Ive been playing with some short progressions (some fully diatonic, and some 1-4-5-7-1, 1-3-5-7-1), and I noticed the sound/character produced when I resolved back to the tonic chord, and it got me wondering; Is there any other type of chord that will resolve smoother to the tonic than the 7th (diminished) chord, or is it the only chord that produces that specific type of action (besides a 5th - tonic movement)?
Answer:
Originally Posted by demon_hunter Ok, so Ive just started serious study of diminished chords, and their fingerings.
Ive been playing with some short progressions (some fully diatonic, and some 1-4-5-7-1, 1-3-5-7-1), and I noticed the sound/character produced when I resolved back to the tonic chord, and it got me wondering; Is there any other type of chord that will resolve smoother to the tonic than the 7th (diminished) chord, or is it the only chord that produces that specific type of action (besides a 5th - tonic movement)?
By "5th - tonic," you mean V - I (dominant - tonic), I assume? Traditionally, the V(7) - I and the vii^o7 - I are the strongest cadential movements to the tonic. You'll notice that a V7 include the diminished triad (not the added diminished seventh, though).
The strength of the V7 or the vii^o7 chord's motion towards the tonic is the combination of the unstable harmonic interval (a minor seventh in the V7 and a diminished fifth in the vii^o7) and the leading tone (the third in the V7 and the root in the vii^o7), which all want to resolve to members of the tonic triad. The addition of the diminished seventh interval in the vii^o7 makes that cadential motion even stronger.
"Smoothness," however, in harmonic motion is almost entirely subjective. I think the IV^6/4 - I cadence is also rather smooth, but some wouldn't consider it a cadence at all. You can even do crazy things with altered bII chords or augmented-sixth chords that lead to the tonic (instead of the dominant that they traditionally lead to). It's all about what sound you're going after. No one cadence is more "right" or more "smooth" or more "natural" than another, really. The main reason [ii]-V7-I is so favored is that we've grown accustomed to it (there are some mathematical reasons, too).