Help please

[Playmystrat]

I was fooling around with my guitar and I started playing some majoradd2 arpeggios on the top 4 strings in the key of c. I realized that you could play a c minor progression using a c major chord and you could finish the progression on either a c major or a c minor and the progression would still sound "resolved". Why is this??

[the1andonly]

It depends on the progression your using. most likely your using some kind of G7-C cadence. and V-I resolutions can lead to a major or minor chord. for example: G7-C or G7-Cm. the reason for this: look at the notes of the G7 Chord: G-B-D-F. the F is the 4th of C, which causes a lot of tension (take a look at the master calss article on this site) and a B, the major 7th of C, which is used as a 'leading tone' which resolves back to C. that's why it would still sound 'resolved'.
but if your using a different progression, let me know what it is and I'll try to explain the resolution.

[Playmystrat]

The progression that I was using involved straight up major chords, no G7, etc. It was majoradd2 arpeggios in a C, Eb, C, Ab progression.