Resolve a note?

[Stuartw]

What does it mean to resolve a note and how would you play this?

[Jozsef]

It means that a sense of tension is followed by a sense of release, harmony. Dissonance is followed by consonance. “Order is reestablished”, so to say.

Try to play an F note over a C chord. The C chord has the notes C, E and G in it. The F is only one semitone away from E - the distance of a semitone is probably the most jarring dissonance you can play on a guitar.* Here you can resolve that F note either to E which is closer to it, or to G. That will result in a consonant sound.

Chords can also be resolved. This is a typical 12-bar blues in C (you can play the dominant or “7” version of these chords if you know them):

C C C C
F F C C
G F C G

Played only once, the last G chord is sort of left hanging in the air. It needs a follow-up that brings it back down, like a full stop at the end of a sentence. If you play the above progression twice, you will feel that when you start the cycle again, the G to C change brings a sense of stability, a resolution.

Note: play the following “dyads” (2-note chords or double stops) on the thinnest strings:

D# and E
F and E

They will sound somewhat creepy. If you play an E note on both strings, you will notice the difference. The same effect can be achieved by, for example, fretting the B string at the 5th fret and slowly bending it while strumming the open high E string.

[Morpeli]

Exactly as above…

It means going back to the root note of the key you’re in.

So if you are in the key of C Maj, then eventually playing C because the C note sounds the most ‘resolved’…the most solid in that key…the 3rd degree E and 5th degree G sound good too.

e.g. You’re playing a solo over C Maj chord.

The scale of C Maj is:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7
C D E F G A B

If you play an C note when soloing over the C Maj chord, it sounds the best as the C is 1 or the root of the chord. If you play an E or G they also sound good because E is the 3rd note of the C Maj and the G is the 5th note of C Maj which is comprised of C E G.

IF you play a D (the 2nd) or B (the 7th) they don’t sound as solid and feel like they want go somewhere but if you play the note B to note C that sounds good over a C Maj chord.

If you play the note D to note C that also sounds. D on its own sound tense or unresolved as it is the 2nd degree of the scale, B on it’s on also sounds tense or ‘unresolved’ over C Maj as it is the 7th degree.

But if they move to C, that goes from a tense feeling/sound to a resolved feeling/sound.

The easiest way to experience this is record a C Maj on a looper or find C Maj vamp on youtube then play the B note then the C note over the looping chord and then try playing the D note then the C note over the C Maj loop. You will here the resolution.

[Stuartw]

@Jozsef

Played only once, the last G chord is sort of left hanging in the air. It needs a follow-up that brings it back down, like a full stop at the end of a sentence. If you play the above progression twice, you will feel that when you start the cycle again, the G to C change brings a sense of stability, a resolution.

I see that!

@Jozsef

D# and E
F and E

They will sound somewhat creepy. If you play an E note on both strings, you will notice the difference.

I hear that.

Thanks for the examples.

[Stuartw]

@Morpeli

The easiest way to experience this is record a C Maj on a looper or find C Maj vamp on youtube then play the B note then the C note over the looping chord and then try playing the D note then the C note over the C Maj loop. You will here the resolution.

I hear that, thanks.