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From I to V and back
One more look at what you missed.
C, then G, then C again.
Chord V sounds like a question. Chord I answers it.
No sound? Check your volume, and that your phone is not on silent.
Chord V leans back toward I.
G major holds B, one semitone below C, and B wants to rise to it. That pull makes V sound unfinished.
Did it stop on V, waiting, or come home to I?
I is the tonic. V is the dominant.
Tonic means the home chord of the key. The dominant is the chord that pulls hardest back to it.
In C major, which chord is the dominant?
The same move in G major.
Now D is the dominant. Its F♯ sits one semitone below G and pulls up to it.
In G major, which chord is the dominant?
Some songs swing between I and V almost all the way.
“Jambalaya” and “Achy Breaky Heart” are built on these two chords: away to V, home to I.
The first chord is home in every key. Did it stop on V or come back to I?
You can hear I and V.
What you learned
- I is the tonic, the home chord; V is the dominant.
- V sounds unfinished because one of its notes pulls up to the tonic.
- The move from V back to I sounds the same in every key.
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