There's no mistaking the sound of a diminished 7th chord. Right when you hear it, the tension of this chord is begging to be resolved.
Even though diminished 7th chords are common, they're not plentiful in most songs. But they will flavor up any piece of music instead of just plain Major and minor chords.
I want to share the secrets behind diminished 7th chords in this article. By understanding just 3 simple facts about this chord, you can easily create a diminished 7th chord in any key.
We'll start with a Major triad.
From here, let's transform it into a simple diminished triad by lowering the 3rd and 5th a half step.
Just lowering the minor third creates C minor.
Then lowering the 5th creates C diminished.
Now that we've finished constructing our diminished triad, we're going to add one more tone.
You can find the 7th tone in a Major key of music by counting inclusively up from the tonic. This is known as the Major 7th tone but not the note that creates a diminished 7th chord.
By flatting this note (lowering it a half step), you have the flatted 7th tone. Again, this note doesn't create a diminished 7th chord either.
We'll lower the flatted 7th tone a half step. This tone is also known as the diminished 7th and will complete our C diminished 7th chord.
Here's the 3 simple facts about this chord that will allow you to easily create a diminished 7th.
1 A diminished 7th chord is simply a stack of minor third intervals. The easiest way to assemble them is to imagine that you're just creating a minor chord (without the 5th) off of every note.
2 The diminished 7th tone that I covered earlier, is actually the 6th tone in a Major key of music. But it's not referred to as the 6th because the other tones included in the chord put it into the context of a diminished 7th.
3 There are only 3 diminished 7th chords that you could possibly play. The reason for this, is that the minor 3rd intervals I discussed earlier are all equal. Simply put, if you play a diminished 7th chord in any inversion, it can serve as a diminished 7th chord with any one of the tones as the root. This limits the actual number of diminished 7th chords that actually exists.
For example C diminished 7th......can also be E flat diminished 7th
...and may also be G flat diminished 7th
...and may also be A diminished 7th
There are two other diminished 7th chords besides these that can be inverted to produce them in all 12 keys.
I have an article on the application of diminished chords as a Gospel progression. It's a special edition "Cards & Video" article and you can view it here. Remember to keep diminished 7th chords in mind as you play and learn songs. They can really add flavor to any song.
Until next time, Go Play!
Greg Lee
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