Diminished 7ths Chords

You're moving through The Series and everything is clicking and you're really excited about the pace and then you hit diminished chords or diminished 7ths and everything slows down.  Sound familiar?  You're not alone -- for most beginning and intermediate musicians, the diminished chords, and their usage takes some time to be fully assimilated into their playing. 

One way to ease the pain is to spend a few minutes every day just playing over the diminished 7ths chords as this is the one that you need for the "betweeners" as explained in The Series, when chords move in whole steps. 

There are really only three diminshed 7ths and you should play over them every day for a few minutes.  Let it become a "breakfast habit" to play diminished chords! 

C,Eb,Gb,A

F,Ab,B,D

Bb,Db,E,G

Play over these and learn to roll them up and down the keyboard.  Become familiar with them.  Then, when you see the o7 chord symbol, simply play the chord that matches the letter of the chord that you need and you'll be good to go! 

Familiarity with these chords opens the door for much more advanced stuff with them later.  The diminished 7th chord is a unique chord in that each note of the chord is a minor 3rd (three half steps) away from the other notes.  This gives it a unique sound unlike any other chord out there and there is much fun to be had with them in your playing.  Getting comfortable with them now, sets all of that to be less daunting when you get to it.

Have fun and keep moving forward!!

Jeremiah Sibley
lead instructor, BSharpTricks