What are guide tones?

The 3rd and the 7th of a chord. They define whether a chord is major, minor or dominant, and they are the notes that move by half step between chords. Roots and 5ths can be left out entirely without losing the harmony.

Do I have to resolve F down to E?

No - it is the strongest option, not the only one. F can also stay put and become the 11th of Cmaj7, which sounds unresolved on purpose. The tool shows the shortest connection; you decide whether to take it.

Does this work for any V–I?

Yes. The tritone in any dominant 7 chord resolves inwards to the 3rd and root of the target chord. Enter A7 → Dmaj7 or Eb7 → Abmaj7 into the tool and you will see the same two half steps in different places.

G7 → Cmaj7: voice leading on the guitar

G7 → Cmaj7 is the V–I resolution in C major, the strongest pull in tonal harmony. Two notes do almost all the work, and once you can find them anywhere on the neck, the change plays itself.

G7 | Cmaj7

Chord tones

G7G – B – D – F1 – 3 – 5 – b7
Cmaj7C – E – G – B1 – 3 – 5 – 7

Open in the improviser →

Connections: G7 → Cmaj7

G → Gcommon tone
B → Chalf step up
F → Ehalf step down
D → Ewhole step up

Common tones: G, B

Why this works

Inside G7 sits the tritone B–F, an interval so unstable that both of its notes want to move - and they want to move in opposite directions. F falls a half step to E, the 3rd of Cmaj7. B rises a half step to C, the root. That is the resolution, and it is only two semitones of total movement. The remaining voices barely move either: G is a common tone shared by both chords, and D steps up a whole tone to E. What this means for improvising is that you do not need a new scale for the second chord. You need to know where F and B are in the position you are playing in, and you need to arrive on E or C at the moment the chord changes. Everything else is decoration. The half-step approach is also why this works in any key and over any voicing: the tool computes the shortest connection for every chord tone, so the same two-note logic shows up when you enter D7 → Gmaj7 or Bb7 → Ebmaj7.

How to practice this

Stay in one position for the whole exercise. Moving up the neck hides the point.

Step by step

Set the fret range to 3–7 and loop G7 – Cmaj7, four beats each, at 80 BPM.
Find every F and every B inside that range. Play only those two notes over the G7 bar.
On the Cmaj7 downbeat, resolve: F to E, B to C. Play nothing else in the Cmaj7 bar.
Reverse the order - resolve B to C first, then F to E on the next repeat. They sound different; notice which one you prefer.
Finally, improvise a short phrase over G7 that simply *ends* on E or C as Cmaj7 arrives.

Practice this with real lessons

You are looking at the half-step resolutions between G7 and Cmaj7. These lessons work on exactly this kind of movement.

No lesson covers this exact context yet.

No lesson matches this exact context yet.

Related areas in the catalog:

Frequently asked questions

What are guide tones?: The 3rd and the 7th of a chord. They define whether a chord is major, minor or dominant, and they are the notes that move by half step between chords. Roots and 5ths can be left out entirely without losing the harmony.
Do I have to resolve F down to E?: No - it is the strongest option, not the only one. F can also stay put and become the 11th of Cmaj7, which sounds unresolved on purpose. The tool shows the shortest connection; you decide whether to take it.
Does this work for any V–I?: Yes. The tritone in any dominant 7 chord resolves inwards to the 3rd and root of the target chord. Enter A7 → Dmaj7 or Eb7 → Abmaj7 into the tool and you will see the same two half steps in different places.