Diminished Chords

Diminished triads are chords built from stacked minor-thirds. A diminished triad has three notes: the root of the chord, a note a minor-third above the root, and a note a diminished-fifth above the root. The diminished chord gets its name from this diminished-fifth interval.

 

If we stack another minor-third on top of a diminished triad, we get a diminished-seventh chord. This creates and interval of a diminished-seventh above the root of the chord. This interval is what gives the diminished-seventh chord its name.

Diminished-seventh Chord

 If we instead add a major-third on top of a diminished triad we get a half-diminished-seventh chord.

Half-diminished-seventh Chord

 

Diminished chords are usually indicated with the following symbols: “°” or “dim” for diminished triads, “°7” or “dim7” for diminished-seventh chords, “ø7” or “m7♭5”

Chord symbols for diminished chords

Diminished chords have an unstable sound and usually resolve to a major or minor chord one half-step higher.

Normal resolution of diminished chords

Diminished chords can also resolve in less common ways, such as the following:

Other resolutions of diminished chords

Basic Piano Chords

The chords every piano and keyboard player should know are the basic Major, minor, Augmented, and diminished chords, and seventh chords. These are the most common chords and are relatively easy to play.

These chords are shown with the root note C. Other root notes are possible by transposing these chords. For example, a C Major chord (C, E, G) can be transposed to D. This will result in a D Major chord (D, F-sharp, A).

These chords are constructed from musical intervals. Each chord has:

1. A Root note
2. A note a Major third (M3) or minor third (m3) above the Root
3. A note a Perfect fifth (P5), Augmented fifth (A5), or diminished fifth above the Root

• And seventh chords also have a note a Major seventh (M7), minor seventh (m7), or diminished seventh (d7) above the Root.

The basic chords:

• Major - Root, M3, P5
• minor - Root, m3, P5
• Augmented (Aug) - Root, M3, A5
• diminished (dim) - Root, m3, d5

The seventh chords:

• 7 - Root, M3, P5, m7
• M7 - Root, M3, P5, M7
• m7 - Root, m3, P5, m7
• dim7 - Root, m3, d5, d7
• half dim7 - Root, m3, d5, m7

Example:

If we choose a Major chord for example we begin by picking a Root note. We could pick any of the 12 notes but in this case we will choose G. The next note we need is a Major third (M3) above the Root, which in this case would be the note B. The final note we need is a Perfect fifth above the root, which in this case would be the note D. Now we have all three notes of our Major chord: G, B, and D.

For reference here is a diagram of the keyboard with the note names on it:

Now that you know these chords you might want to learn about chord inversion, chord symbols, or extended chords.

A Video About Chords

(You may want to review intervals, chord symbols and chord roots before reading this page or watching the video.)

The video demonstrates some of the most common chords: Major, minor, Augmented, diminished, and various seventh chords.

Major -------- root - M3 - P5
minor -------- root - m3 - P5
diminished - root - m3 - d5
Augmented - root - M3 - A5
Maj7 ---------- root - M3 - P5 - M7
7 ---------------- root - M3 - p5 - m7
min7 ---------- root - m3 - P5 - m7
dim7 ---------- root - m3 - d5 - d7

Learn more about chords.

Learn about extended chords.

Learn about chord inversion.

Chords

Chords are notes played simultaneously. The most commonly used chords are constructed from stacked thirds. Chords can also be constructed from seconds, fourths or fifths but these types of chords are less common.

The most basic type of chord is a triad, a chord made of three notes built from stacked thirds. Each triad contains a chord root, and notes a third and a fifth above the root.

Basic chords:

Seventh Chords:

If we stack another third onto any of the basic chords, adding an interval of a seventh above the root, we now have Seventh Chords.

From left to right the names of these chords are: Major-Major seventh, Major-minor seventh, minor-minor seventh, minor-Major seventh.
These chords names are commonly abbreviated, such as M7 for Major-Major Seventh and 7 for Major-minor seventh.

Other Seventh Chords:

From left to right the names of these chords are: Augmented-Major seventh, Augmented-minor seventh, Half diminished, diminished seventh.

Learn about Extended Chords
Learn about Chord Symbols

Intervals

Intervals are the distances between any two notes. Each interval will have a number - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. These numbers are the distance between two notes, based upon counting the lines and spaces on the staff.For example, if we count lines and spaces, starting from C and ending on G, we count: C,D,E,F,G = 1,2,3,4,5, Therefore, the interval from C to G is a fifth (5th).

We can also keep counting past 8, through 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13, but usually not past 13.

List of interval types:

• Unison - 1
• Second - 2nd
• Third - 3rd
• Fourth - 4th
• Fifth - 5th
• Sixth - 6th
• Seventh - 7th
• Octave - 8ve
• Ninth - 9th
• Tenth - 10th
• Eleventh - 11th
• Twelfth - 12th
• Thirteenth - 13th

Interval quality:

Intervals also have another identifier in addition to number called the interval quality. Intervals can be called Major (M), minor (m), Perfect (P), Augmented (A), or diminished (d).

Major Intervals:

Minor Intervals:

Perfect Intervals:

Augmented Intervals:

Diminished Intervals:

Each interval comprises of a certain number of half-steps. With the aid of a keyboard it is easy to visualize and count the number of half-steps that make up intervals.

List of intervals:

• P1, d2 = 0 half-steps
• m2, A1 = 1 half-step
• M2, d3 = 2 half-steps
• m3, A2 = 3 half-steps
• M3, d4 = 4 half-steps
• P4, A3 = 5 half-steps
• A4, d5 = 6 half-steps
• P5, d6 = 7 half-steps
• m6, A5 = 8 half-steps
• M6, d7 = 9 half-steps
• m7, A6 = 10 half-steps
• M7, d8 = 11 half-steps
• P8, A7 = 12 half-steps