Voice Leading Seventh Chords in Inversion

Inverted seventh chords must obey the same restrictions as inverted triads and as seventh chords. That
is, like root position sevenths, the roots nearly always progress downwards by fifth, with the seventh
resolving downward by step (and, ideally, with the third resolving upwards by step); and like inverted
triads, they nearly always resolve by step in the bass (often in a specific direction, according to the rules
just mentioned).

In addition, unlike root position seventh chords, inverted seventh chords should only rarely be
incomplete, which limits the available methods. On the other hand, since the bass is no longer moving
from root to root, these seventh chords and the chords to which they lead can always be complete.

Almost invariably, the remaining voices follow the basic pattern: thirds and fifths converge to the root,
roots stay put to become the fifth, and sevenths resolve down to the third.

First Inversion
For a first-inversion dominant seventh, the bass note is the leading tone, and must resolve upwards,
without exception (since it is in an outer voice); for non-dominant sevenths, it is no longer a leading
tone, but as the note one step below is not part of the subsequent chord, it likewise has nowhere to go
but up. Hence, it nearly always leads to a root position triad. The rest of the voices follow the expected
pattern.

Third Inversion
Like first-inversion sevenths, the resolution of third-inversion seventh chords is fixed: the bass note is
the chordal seventh, which always needs to resolve downwards; hence, the third-inversion seventh
chord must, itself, resolve downwards almost invariably to a first-inversion triad. The remaining voices
resolve as stated above.
Second Inversion
Second inversion is different from either first or third inversion. In a dominant seventh, the bass note is
2
scale degree , and while it is still an active tone, and must resolve by step, it can resolve equally well in
either direction; thus, the second-inversion seventh chord may resolve either up to a first-inversion triad
or down to a root position triad. When it resolves downwards, the voice leading follows the guidelines
given above.

When the bassline resolves upwards, there is a slight difference. The upper voices do, indeed, move as
expected. However, the bass voice must move to the third, just as the chordal seventh must also move
to the third. This means that the resulting chord will have a doubled third. This is one of the only times
when the third should be doubled.

Third-Progressions, Parallel Tenths, and Exceptions

There is one exception to the usual rule that the seventh of a seventh chord must resolve downwards.
I V I
The alternation , especially at the beginning of a phrase, strongly recommends the third-
1 2 3
progression . If this melodic line is instead placed in the bass line, the chord progression
becomes I V# I^ . This third-progression can then be harmonised in parallel tenths by another third-
3 4 5 4
progression, , in the soprano. This means that the seventh, which is scale degree , does not
resolve downwards, but under this circumstance, the excellent effect of the two third-progressions in
parallel thirds overrules this usual requirement (and note that the third is not doubled in this case).