Diminished Chords Help!

Tommy Gibbons · Posted 29 Jan 2010 1:12 pm

Could someone explain "diminished chords" and give an example of its use?

My example is in "D", 5th fret. I use pedals AB & F lever and strings 4,5,6.

When do I use a diminished chord? Going to where? Same as 7th?

Thanks for your help!

Tommy
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Mike Neer · From: NJ

Tommy, a diminished chord is made up of all minor third intervals (equal to 3 frets) stacked together. For instance, D, plus a minor third, F, plus another minor third, Ab, plus another minor third, B equals Ddim, Fdim, Abdim and Bdim. Every diminished chord is repeatable every 3 frets, so if you play a dim. chord on the 5th fret, you can also play it on the 2nd, 8th, 11th, and 14th frets and it will have all the same notes.

A diminished chord is a chord that always resolves to another chord, so it is transitional. It can be approached like a 7th chord--in fact, every 7th chord has a diminished triad inside (C E G Bb = C7, E G Bb = Edim, G dim and Bbdim. See where I'm coming from?

Now, how to use it--you can approach any chord with a diminished chord a 1/2 step below it. Like I said, it is a chord of transition. Try walking up the scale like this:

/D - - Ebdim/ Em - - Fdim/F#min - - F#dim/ G - - G#dim/ A7 - - Bbdim/Bmin - - Cdim/C#dim - - -/D /

The diminished chord is played on the 4th beat of each bar here (each dash and each chord name constitutes a beat). That's one way to hear how this could be used--these are called 'secondary diminished' chords.
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Stuart Legg · Posted 29 Jan 2010 2:42 pm

strings 4 5 6 = #5F 3A 1B = D aug or 9F b7A 3B=(G#)9 not a Dim

Billy Tonnesen · From: R.I.P., Buena Park, California

An example is in the song "On The Alamo". Towards the end you go into a diminished chord for about three bars before progressing to the end of the song.
There is no other chord that really fits !

Brint Hannay · From: Maryland, USA

Most of the time, on E9th, steel players wind up playing three notes of the four-note dim7 chord. Naturally, this is partly because most steel players use three picks.

For a complete four-note dim7 chord (dim7 is usually what people mean when they refer to a "diminished" chord), strings 9, 8, 6, 5 with F raise only is the most playable voicing using standard pedal and lever changes.

If one has a tunable split for combining the A pedal and Bb lower for a C note, complete four-note dim7 voicings can be played using strings 8, 7, 6, 5 or 7, 6, 5, 4 with A & B pedals, Bb lower and E lower engaged.

But any three-note voicing of the "standard" grips (10, 8, 6, 5, 4, 3) with F raise only will usually amply give the "diminished" tonality.

Ray Montee · From: Portland, Oregon (deceased)

If you go to my version of "LITTLE ROCK GETAWAY" on You Tube.......

The fiddle and accordian take it thro' all the way during the first time around. I take to the chorus and on the second part of the chorus, you can hear me do a diminished run up the neck (from left to right for g'tar pickers).

This is on Speedy Wests' tuning:

HIGH to low: G# E C# B/B-flat G# E C# B

I drop the 4th string with a pedal for the four position run up the neck.

Hopefully this will prove to be of some help to you.

Ben Jones · From: Seattle, Washington, USA

cool, i use this a bunch. didnt know what it was called. I just think of it as that thing that repeats every three frets and sounds nice one fret back sliding into a chord. F lever or ABF depending. i guess saying "diminished" is a little shorter eh...

Intro in C , i start at fret 1 pick 8,6,5 with F lever engaged, then without picking again slide up 3 frets, then another 3, then another 3, then back down to the C at fret 8 release F lever and pick again the chord 8,6,5.

hope i got that right, no guitar here.

I use it in Blue Eyes Cryin in The rain too for the one fret back thingy. some other songs...i cant stop loving you...its in there somewhere. Crazy maybe? cant recall.

Bo Legg · Posted 29 Jan 2010 5:09 pm

Here is an example of the use of diminished chords.
It is used as a tag at the end of the intro, choruses and outro all thru the song. I love this song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=culVILDbE-w

Billy Tonnesen · From: R.I.P., Buena Park, California

O.K., now that everyone has explained Diminish chords to you, do you have any questions when to use Augmented chords as passing chords when they are not a definite part part of the Melody ? I'm not a good explainer so if you are interested I will let the other guys comment on this.

Brint Hannay · From: Maryland, USA

In Bo's example, you could also add the 4th string with F raise to those chords, for a complete four-voice dim7. The only difficulty with that is picking with the right hand such that the 3rd string, as the highest note (pitch-wise) of the voicing, stands out or at least is not overshadowed by the 2nd string note--when the natural tendency is probably for the outside (physically) notes of a grip to get the most emphasis. (This "problem" applies also to his three-note voicings.) This makes it a good exercise for conscious, directed right hand control.

John Billings · From: Ohio, USA

I used to make wind chimes for musician friend's birthdays. Not content with a pleasant, soothing major chord, I tuned the chimes to play a diminished chord. Drove my friends crazy as they kept waiting for the resolve!

Bo Legg · Posted 30 Jan 2010 6:03 pm

Bo Legg · Posted 30 Jan 2010 8:25 pm

Mike Perlowin · From: Los Angeles CA

Stuart Legg · Posted 31 Jan 2010 7:04 am

chas smith R.I.P. · From: Encino, CA, USA

Another way to think about them is that they're a combination of 2 tritones. (the tritone is the interval that makes the dominant 7th chord) For instance, the dim chord, A C Eb F# has the tritone A - Eb, which is a F7 and the tritone C - F#, which is a D7. Thinking in terms of dominant chords, the A C Eb F#(Gb) is actually a F7,b9 chord and a D7,b9 chord and for me, that makes it much less mysterious.

By the same token, an A-7b5 chord, A C Eb G, is a F7,9.

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