Major 7th chords and minor 7th chords aren’t unique. It’s like finding a dollar on the street. It could belong to anyone.
This minor 7th chord could be the I chord in A minor, the II chord in G minor, or a III chord in F. An F major 7 could be the IV chord in the key of C, or the I chord in F. You get the idea.
But a dominant chord, that’s unique. There’s only one of them in our scale. It’s more like finding a wallet in the street.
It has a name, an address, maybe a phone number inside, and we know exactly who it belongs to. That means whenever we see one, we’re getting a massive clue about the song’s harmonic movement. It’s either going to propel us back to our home key, or bring us even temporarily to a new one.
Why? Because a dominant chord is a V chord. We can find its owner by going down 5 degrees, or up 4 degrees in the scale, and it can resolve to either a major or a minor.
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