Dim and Aug chords

Will Sevy · From: Caldwell, ID ,USA

I was just playing around with some diminished and Augmented chords on the steel.
They sound pretty cool when played acending or decending one fret at a time. But I can't seem to make them fit into any songs. Could some one give me an example of how these chords are used ?

C Dixon · From: Duluth, GA USA

If a V7 chord is being held before resolving to a I chord, pick strings 3, 4 and 5 at the V chord fret (3rd fret key of C) and half pedal the A pedal; slide up 4 frets as it sustains, then slide up 1 more fret as the song changes to a I chord.

This gives you two inversions of a G+ (augmented) chord going from V7 to I chord.

If the V7 chord is holding long enough you can continue to use the half pedaled aug chord sliding 4 frets at a time until you get to the octave I chord. When used with much feeling and timing, it can really embelish a song particularly on some solo tunes.

One classic song comes to mind on "The Waltz You Saved for Me" where this is very effective. I have seen several do it when playing this song.

If you can get a hold of Buddy Emmons and Shot Jackson playing together on their classic Starday album, Buddy does a diminished run (lick) that is very beautiful on "I'll Be All Smiles Tonight". It is a subsitute diminished that gives a nice dissonant flavor; as the band plays one chord while Buddy plays an unusual diminished.

Good luck and may Jesus bless you in your quests,

carl

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

To briefly extend on what Carl said, you could think of an aug chord as a 7th chord with more "oomph". A little theory. What a dom 7th chord does is create a tension that wants a resolution, like a G7 to a C major. How it does that is, it has a tritone interval. The B and the F which resolves to C and E. The B resolves up to C and the F resolves down to E. The E, the 3rd, is the most important note in the C chord because it defines whether it's major or minor chord.

A G7 aug would have a D# in it, that wants to resolve up to E also, so it has two notes that "sandwich" the E of the C chord, more oomph. Suppose you had 4 beats of G7 before the C, you could play a straight G7 for the first two and the push the aug for the next two, that keeps it "moving" and then resolve to the C.

Dim chords are a little more complicated. but essentially function the same. A standard progression might be I - #I dim - IV. C - C#dim - F.

A simple progression going from C to F, might be C - C7 - F. The tritone in C7 is E and Bb, resolving to F and A.

The voice leading for C - C#dim - F:

C# dim has C# (Db), E, G, Bb in it which are the same notes as C7, b9. In this case, the E resoves up to F, the Bb resolves down to A and the C# (Db) resolves down to C. So again, it's functioning as a dom7 chord with more oomph.

Another standard progression would be IV - #IVdim - V, F - F#dim - G7. F#dim has F#, A, C, Eb in it. The F# and the C make a tritone for a D7, which is the V7 of G. You may have noticed that there's another tritone A and Eb, which is the tritone for F7. So F#dim can function as a D7, b9 and F7, b9. Complicated chords can have multiple identities.

A Cdim has C, Eb, F# and A in it, the same notes as F#dim, Ebdim and Adim. They all invert to each other and they are all the same chord essentially. So what that means is, in reality, there are 3 different dim chords. Cdim, and its inversions, C#dim and its inversions and Ddim and its inversions, because the next one up the scale is Ebdim and it's the same thing as Cdim.

I play dim chords a lot on the C6 neck where they are easy to get, push the 5 and 6 pedal together. Suppose I'm slopping around in F, the 5th fret and I'm going up to the IV chord, Bb, 10th fret. A beat or so before I land, I might mash 5 and 6 on the 9th fret for an Adim chord (Adim has an A, C, Eb, F#) so here it's the same as a F7,b9 going to Bb.

V - I, C7 back to F might be 7th fret 6 pedal (C7) add the 5 pedal for Gdim (which has a Bb and an E in it), slide down to the 4th fret for an Edim, an inversion of Gdim. Slide back up to F, voila. gotta go......

Will Sevy · From: Caldwell, ID ,USA

That's just what I was looking for, A couple of progressions with Aug and Dim chords. I couldn't find a way to fit them in. I can't wait to play around some more. Thanks alot guys.

Mike Delaney · From: Fort Madison, IA

Good comments already, just a quick addition. The Augmented triad (example in C) is two Major thirds, C to E and E to G#. This inverts itself every four frets. So strings 8,6, and 5 1/2 A Pedal is C Aug at frets 4,8,12,16,20, etc.

A Diminished triad is two minor thirds, C to Eb and Eb to Gb. This will invert every three frets, with the neat trick of the diminished 7th being added. (B=Major7, Bb=Dominant7, Bbb (same sound as A)=Diminished7). Strings 8R,6, and 5 at the 7th fret are C Diminished in Root position. We can also use this at frets 1,4,7,10,13, etc. Using a Dim7 chord 1/2 step higher than the root (B in this case) produces B7b9 sound.

Either of these will add some nice spice to the band, howver any good cook will tell you "season to taste"!

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