You can always tell when a diminished chord is in a song...
that's usually when the guitar stops playing! Seriously, diminished and augmented chords get a bad wrap with guitarists, players either don't know them or find them too hard to play.
Actually, diminished and augmented chords are easy to play, their names sound difficult however once you understand how they are constructed you will find they are just as easy to play as the major and minor chords.
Learning diminished chords: The musical shorthand way of writing the diminished chord is: C dim Step 1.
The spelling of the C dim chord is C-Eb-Gb As the name implies the concept of the diminished chord is to retain the keynote i.
e.
, the name of the chord (in this instance the note 'C') and flatten (or diminish) the remaining two notes of the chord Eb and Gb.
An easy way to learn the diminished triads on the guitar is to play them on string grids.
Step 2.
creating string grids Here is how it looks on the guitar: String set 1 = strings 1, 2 & 3 (chord 1) C dim -2- -4- --[5]-- -- -- -- Keynote or root note indicated [ ].
String set 1 = strings 1, 2 & 3 (chord 2) C dim --[8]- -7-- -8-- - - - Notice how the keynote has moved to the first string for this shape.
String set 1 = strings 1, 2 & 3 (chord 3) C dim -11-- --[13]- -11-- -- -- -- Now the keynote has moved to string two! The same C dim chord transferred to the second string grid would convert to the following shapes.
String grid 2 = strings 2, 3 & 4 (chord 1) C dim -- -4- --[5]-- -4- -- -- String grid 2 = strings 2, 3 & 4 (chord 2) C dim -- -7- -8- -[10]- -- -- String grid 2 = strings 2, 3 & 4 (chord 3) C+ -- --[13]- -11-- -13-- -- -- A great ear training idea is to compare the sounds of each of the basic four triads like this: 1.
C to C minor triad.
C /// | Cm /// | One way you could play this would be...
C -3- -5- --[5]-- -- -- -- Cm -3- -4- --[5]-- -- -- -- 2.
C to C augmented triad.
C /// | C+ /// | Could be played this way...
C -3- -5- --[5]-- -- -- -- C+ -4- -5- --[5]-- -- -- -- 3.
C to C diminished triad.
C /// | C dim /// | One solution would be...
C -3- -5- --[5]-- -- -- -- C dim -2- -4- --[5]-- -- -- -- Try designing your own chord shapes by starting on a any major chord of a string grid of your choice then creating the closest minor, augmented and diminished triad, remember there are always multiple ways of playing any one chord all over the fingerboard of the guitar.
that's usually when the guitar stops playing! Seriously, diminished and augmented chords get a bad wrap with guitarists, players either don't know them or find them too hard to play.
Actually, diminished and augmented chords are easy to play, their names sound difficult however once you understand how they are constructed you will find they are just as easy to play as the major and minor chords.
Learning diminished chords: The musical shorthand way of writing the diminished chord is: C dim Step 1.
The spelling of the C dim chord is C-Eb-Gb As the name implies the concept of the diminished chord is to retain the keynote i.
e.
, the name of the chord (in this instance the note 'C') and flatten (or diminish) the remaining two notes of the chord Eb and Gb.
An easy way to learn the diminished triads on the guitar is to play them on string grids.
Step 2.
creating string grids Here is how it looks on the guitar: String set 1 = strings 1, 2 & 3 (chord 1) C dim -2- -4- --[5]-- -- -- -- Keynote or root note indicated [ ].
String set 1 = strings 1, 2 & 3 (chord 2) C dim --[8]- -7-- -8-- - - - Notice how the keynote has moved to the first string for this shape.
String set 1 = strings 1, 2 & 3 (chord 3) C dim -11-- --[13]- -11-- -- -- -- Now the keynote has moved to string two! The same C dim chord transferred to the second string grid would convert to the following shapes.
String grid 2 = strings 2, 3 & 4 (chord 1) C dim -- -4- --[5]-- -4- -- -- String grid 2 = strings 2, 3 & 4 (chord 2) C dim -- -7- -8- -[10]- -- -- String grid 2 = strings 2, 3 & 4 (chord 3) C+ -- --[13]- -11-- -13-- -- -- A great ear training idea is to compare the sounds of each of the basic four triads like this: 1.
C to C minor triad.
C /// | Cm /// | One way you could play this would be...
C -3- -5- --[5]-- -- -- -- Cm -3- -4- --[5]-- -- -- -- 2.
C to C augmented triad.
C /// | C+ /// | Could be played this way...
C -3- -5- --[5]-- -- -- -- C+ -4- -5- --[5]-- -- -- -- 3.
C to C diminished triad.
C /// | C dim /// | One solution would be...
C -3- -5- --[5]-- -- -- -- C dim -2- -4- --[5]-- -- -- -- Try designing your own chord shapes by starting on a any major chord of a string grid of your choice then creating the closest minor, augmented and diminished triad, remember there are always multiple ways of playing any one chord all over the fingerboard of the guitar.
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