I was looking at the harmony in White Walls by Between the Buried and Me and at one part, there is a F#7 chord followed by a Dm chord..

I'm sure most of you know the notes in those chords but just to show what the "resolution" looks like,

F#7: F# A# C# E
Dm: A D F

I know that in a normal resultion the 3rd and 7th of the Dominant pull to the 1st and 3rd of the tonic.. but here the 3rd, 5th, and 7th of the dominant pull to the root,3rd,and 5th of the "tonic."

Will a dom -> "other chord" always sound resolved like this if this kind of thing is happening?
Last edited by ibz120 at Mar 4, 2012,
I have no idea what the answer is to your question. However, the whole thing would make more sense if you renamed all the "sharp" chords to flats.

In other words: Gb7, Gb, Bb, Db, E ( E out of context).

At least that places those chords more, (at least philosophically), in keeping with Dm.

In a rather far flung and circuitous way, Dm ultimately winds up at F. So, vi, blah, blah I.

BTW, I just post things like this so somebody can have the pleasure of telling me I'm wrong.
Ya, a V7 tends to resolve that way (3rd up 7th down), but there are other enharmonic "dom7s" with different functions

The key here is just observing "why" it sounds resolved; obviously it's the half step resolutions.


I don't know the exact transcription or voicing, but this seems more in line with an augmented sixth sort of resolution (if the F# is going down by half, and the E is going up by half - resolving outward to the 3rd of the chord)

An augmented 6th is an enharmonic dom7 that originated as a chromatic predominant. Basically the m7 interval of a dom7 is enharmonically a +6. Unlike a 7th chord, the +6 interval resolves outwards to an octave (to any chord tone, but the root is more typical), and the inner voices typically move down or up to the closest chord tone.

I don't know if this is an example of that. If you gave me the x:xx in the song, I could listen and verify or explain further - but my first hunch based on your description.
Last edited by chronowarp at Mar 4, 2012,
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