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What Is a Dominant Chord, Also Called the V Chord ("Five Chord")?
The dominant chord, that triad with the fifth note of the diatonic scale as its root (e. g., the chord G major in the key of C major), also called the V chord ("five chord"), gets its "dominant" name because it’s through the dominant chord that the tonic chord derives its power.
The dominant chord dominates harmonic action through its exclusive directional relationship with the tonic chord. If you were playing musical chess, the dominant chord would be the queen (the most powerful player on the board) and the tonic chord would be the king. (The female V chord is known as the dominatrix chord.)
The V – I cadential progression maintains tonality in the midst of a maelstrom of rapidly changing melodic intervals and shifting harmonic tensions.
In melody, all scale degrees have both tension and direction with respect to the tonic note (except the tonic note itself, of course). But in all of harmony ...
- Only one chord, the V chord, the domiant chord, has both tension and direction with respect to the tonic.
- Only one chord, the tonic chord in root position, has no tension and no direction.
- All other chords have tension but no direction with respect to the prevailing tonality.