Diminished Chords & Arpeggios

The diminished chord is used much more sparingly than major or minor chords. Take just one listen to this chord and you will understand why: It is complete tension and dissonance.

It is mostly used to imply a dominant chord sound (as we just learned that the dominant 7th chord has a major triad on the bottom and a diminished triad on the top). 

Just know that this very dissonant sound is used to make the resolution to consonant sounds stronger.

The notes in the diminished chord are:

 1   b3   b5

Below are the five patterns of the diminished chord and the diminished arpeggio.  Memorize these the same way you did major and minor chord shapes.  

Start with octave shapes, then the chord, and connect up and down the neck in a variety of keys.  

Experiment with this sound and try to find a way to incorporate it into your playing. 

I will go into more detail about uses of the diminished chord in later lessons, but for now, just absorb this very dissonant - but diatonic - sound.