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A Unique Animal
Diminished 7th
chords are unique animals. They have some unusual qualities
that make them interesting and useable. For example, they
are the only type of chord that is simply a stack of minor
3rds. If you count from one chord note to the next,
you will find that they are all equidistant.
This
is what they look like on paper:
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CHORD
SYMBOL DEFINITION
A
dimished chord is
a chord built in minor 3rds from the root up, and
appears in leadsheets as any of the following chord
symbols:
A
diminished chord occurs most frequently in jazz and
popular music as a four-note chord, as shown above,
regardless of whether the symbol says Co
or C 07. The 7th of the chord is
a diminished 7th, but is sometimes spelled as a major
6th.
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There are really only 3 diminished
7th Chords:
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Any
note in this diminished 7th chord can function
as the root -- therefore
this chord could be named
Cdim7,
Ebdim7
or D#dim7
F#dim7
or Gbdim7
Adim7,
or Bbbdim7.
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Any
note in this diminished 7th chord can function
as the root -- therefore
this chord could be named
C#dim7 or Dbdim7
Edim7
Gdim7
A#dim7 or Bbdim7.
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Any
note in this diminished 7th chord can function
as the root -- therefore
this chord could be named
Ddim7,
Fdim7,
G#dim7 or Abdim7
Bdim7 or Cbdim7.
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When
we get into chord progressions, we will see that diminished
7th chords can be used as "modulation agents," "transposition
agents," and "transition agents." So learn them well
in ALL inversions.
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