: Difference between a I7 - V resolution and I7 - IV resolution I watched a video lesson on the Floyd Cramer style and the teacher said that resolutions of C7-G (I7-V) is no good. We have to use resolutions of C7-F (I7-IV).

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I7 - V is not functional, not necessarily "bad". Who's to tell you what is good and bad? 7ths are introduced to create greater demand for resolution (because of the augmented 4th between the 3 & 7 of the chord). Technically speaking, I7 does not exist; it is V7/IV i.e. it is the dominant of IV. In tonal music, it is all about function and voice leading.

The "I7" may be followed by a viio7/ii (#Idim7) for instance. In this case, voice leading is the primary consideration. The "I7" is merely preparation for the more dissonant diminished seventh. The "I7" forfeits its function and the viio7/ii becomes the functional chord (assuming it leads to ii).

In popular music, anything goes, consequently there is little to gain from trying to make sense of "rules". Do whatever you like the sound of.

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The reason why C7-F (I7-IV) sounds good, is because the C7 is the V7 of F. So, the C7-F wouldn't exactly be I7-V, but V7-I in F.

The reason C7-F might not sound that good is the above. The C7 has E, which is the leading tone that leads to F. The ear wants to go there. But if you like the sound of C7-G, there is no law against it. It is an unexpected resolution.

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When you talk about resolutions, you always have to look at how the notes move. Let's first look at C7 to F which can be looked at as I7 to IV, but most people would be more tempted to look at is as a tonic-dominant relationship (V7 to I).

C -> C or G if root
E -> F
G -> F or A
Bb -> A

There are certain features about this that are very desirable. First off, the tritone between E and Bb resolves inward to a 3rd going to F and A respectively with the 7th resolving downward. The C is a common tone in both chords which is always good for resolution and voice leading purposes. Last but not least, the E resolves upward in a leading tone like manner, giving a strong pull to F as tonic and completing the resolution and making F sound very much like it belongs as the next note and feels like the "home" chord.

Now let's look at C7 to G:

C -> D, B, or G if root
E -> D
G -> G
Bb -> B

This one has some of the features as the other, but there are very important distinctions. There is a common tone between the two chords, and the tritone also resolves into a consonant interval, but the seventh resolves upward chromatically which is rather odd and doesn't really fit with the idea of resolution. Also we do not have the same leading tone resolution as we did in the previous two chords.

In conclusion, we can say for sure that C7 to F is has a stronger resolution than C7 to G, but that doesn't necessarily mean it is "bad". In fact in the standard 12 bar blues both C7 to F7 and C7 to G7 is used for an effect that make blues rather distinctive, just you would not feel the C7 to G7 as a very strong resolution, but it doesn't have to be. Just like with anything else in music listen, learn, and realize how and when to use each.