Even Without the Devil
Triads still find their way home
There’s a popular theory.
That the reason a dominant chord wants to resolve is because of the tritone buried in its full seventh form. The so-called devil’s interval—a diminished fifth—tucked between the third and seventh of the V⁷.
Wikipedia says:
“The tritone found in the dominant seventh chord can also drive the piece of music towards resolution with its tonic.”¹
And again:
“[The] leading note and the subdominant note combined form a diminished fifth, also known as a tritone… This chord… functions to drive the piece strongly toward a resolution to the tonic.”²
But that’s not what my ears hear.
Play a simple I–IV–V song using just triads. Root it in C. When the G chord hits, it still pulls. That’s just G, B, and D. No seventh. No F. No tritone to be found. And yet it leans—hard—back to C.
Why? It’s the B. That single note is one half step below the tonic. That’s the pull.
The devil doesn’t need to show up. The chord finds its way home just fine.