It's easy to tell when there's a diminished chord in a piece of music...
that's when the guitar player usually stops playing and starts scratching their head.
Yes, diminished chords have been known to give guitar players blisters on the brain; but it doesn't have to be that way! Some of the confusion comes from the various types of diminished chords.
There's the three note diminished triad; the four note diminished 7th version and then there is their musical cousin the half diminished chord, also known as the minor seventh flat five chord..
but that's another story.
Today I'm going to concentrate on the diminished seventh chord as it's the most common type of diminished chord in popular music.
Generally speaking when we see a diminished chord they're referring to a diminished seventh.
Diminished chords structure: (a) the three note diminished triad formula is 1-b3-b5 (b) the four note diminished seventh chord formula is 1-b3-b5-bb7 Important: the symbol "bb" is a double flat; which simply means you flatten the note twice i.
e.
, move the note back down the fretboard two frets (away from you).
The chord symbols used for writing diminished chords are: Co, C dim or Cdim7 Diminished seventh chords: Creating diminished seventh chords and designing your own chord shapes is a breeze once you know how to spell them! Here's how it works: Use the first, flat third, flat fifth and double flattened seventh notes from the major scale to find the correct notes to create the diminished chord.
Let's begin by creating a Cdim chord ...
step 1.
Use the major scale as a starting point step 2.
Apply of chord construction formula 1-b3-b5-bb7 step 3.
Locate the appropriate notes on the guitar In the key of C: C major scale = C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C Remove the 1-b3-b5-bb7 notes of the scale = C-Eb-Gb-Bbb and that's how we would spell C diminished seventh.
Cdim7 = C-Eb-Gb-Bbb When you try this on the guitar you will notice that a Bbb is the same pitch as the note "A".
Using this same approach, here's how we would create other diminished seventh chords.
starting with ...
Ebdim7 step 1.
Eb major scale Eb-F-G-Ab-Bb-C-D-Eb step 2.
extract 1-b3-b5-bb7 answer: Ebdim7 = Eb-Gb-A-C here's how we would spell ...
Ddim7 step 1.
D major scale D-E-F#-G-A-B-C#-D step 2.
extract 1-b3-b5-bb7 answer: Ddim7 = D-F-Ab-B Musical applications: Primarily used as a connecting chord to create added tension and dynamics.
In the following example I'm using the diminished seventh chord as a type of musical 'filler' to create a sense of upward movement in the chord sequence.
Example 1.
A /// | Bm /// | C#m /// | D /// | becomes ...
A /A#dim/ | Bm/Cdim/ | C#m /// | D /// | etc Notice how I used the diminished chords? I added a diminished chord that was a semitone higher in pitch than the original chord.
They're also great for introductions: Example 2 C /// | G /// || could be played like this ...
C / C#dim / | Dm7 / G7/ || Unique chord quality: Any note in the chord can function as the key note e.
g.
, Cdim7 is spelt C-Eb-Gb-A, therefore this same chord could also be named Ebdim7, Gbdim7 or Adim7.
When you think about the enharmonic options for Eb = D# and Gb = F# we would have a total of six names for the one chord shape.
Summary: Cdim7 could also be named ...
Ebdim7, D#dim7, Gbdim7, F#dim7, Adim7 Fretboard application: Each diminished seventh chord repeats every three frets; meaning you could play any diminished seventh chord, move the exact same shape three frets higher or lower on the fretboard and still be playing the same chord, only a different inversion of the chord.
Have fun playing your guitar.