Resolving °7 chords

°7 chords are pretty neat. You can resolve them in many different ways.

Consider C°7 = C Eb Gb Bbb = C Eb Gb A. Via voice leading, and assuming we drop no voices (i.e. only considering 4-note chords), we can go to:

  • C6 = C E G A
  • C7 = C E G Bb
  • Cm6 = C Eb G A
  • Cm7 = C Eb G Bb
  • Db(add9) = Db Eb F Ab
  • Db(m11) = Db Fb Gb Ab
  • D7 = D F# A C
  • Dm7 = D F A C
  • Eb6 = Eb G Bb C
  • Eb7 = Eb G Bb Db
  • Ebm6 = E Gb Bb C
  • Ebm7 = E Gb Bb D
  • F7 = F A C Eb
  • Fm7 = F Ab C Eb
  • Gb6 = Gb Bb Db Eb
  • Gb7 = Gb Bb Db E
  • Gbm6 = Gb Bb Db Eb
  • Gbm7 = Gb Bb Db E
  • Ab7 = Ab C Eb Gb
  • Abm7 = Ab B Eb Gb
  • A6 = A C# E F#
  • A7 = A C# E G
  • Am6 = A C E F#
  • Am7 = A C E G
  • B7 = B D# F# A
  • Bm7 = B D F# A

If we say °7 is our tonic then this table summarizes where you can go from there:

ChordResolutions
I6, dom7, m6, m7
bIIadd9, m(add11)
IIdom7, m7
bIII6, dom7, m6, m7
IIIadd9, m(add11)
IVdom7, m7
bV6, dom7, m6, m7
Vadd9, m(add11)
bVIdom7, m7
VI6, dom7, m6, m7
bVIIadd9, m(add11)
VIIdom7, m7

So, you can find your way to literally any other scale degree. This means that you can use a °7 chord to move to any other key. Neat!1