7Ths Resolve Down To Another 7Th?

Hello everyone, quick question just to clear something up.

In traditional harmony I keep reading 7ths resolve down by step, can it move down by step to be the 7th of the next chord? or does it have to resolve down to the 1st, 3rd or 5th?

Thanks for your time.

Depends on voice leading.

But this is much more common:

Anticipating your next question, any dissonance can be resolved into any dissonant note in the following chord.

As .fseventsd pointed out, it is only a matter of correct voice leading, and also there are stylistic factors, i.e. some of those chains of dissonance might not be common or might sound out of place depending on the style you are going for.

Edited September 5, 201312 yr by Sarastro

Thanks both!

Yes,  typically a 7th in a dominant 7th chord resolves down a half step to the 3rd of the tonic.  But yes! the 7th can also partially resolve down a half step to another dominant 7th. Consider Sophisticated Lady by Duke Ellington where the succession of unresolved seventh chords becomes a circle of fifths until the final V-1 progression, where the ending tonic chord is a Major 7th chord (1,3,5,natural 7).

You might hear this hidden in Wagner's chromaticism. But it's used all the time in Jazz, cuz jazz has its own rules, one of which is you can precede any chord by stepping up or down to it chromatically. Good question. ;)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brqxEdwsTQs

Edited September 13, 201312 yr by Ken320

Thanks Ken320!