You can build another 33 chords from an additional four scales: the harmonic minor, melodic minor, the whole tone scale, and the HW diminished scale.

I cover the intervals in the 77 chords and the scales they are built from. Finally, I have my list of the 13 most important chords that any guitar player should know.

How to build chords from scales

Before you can build chords from scales, you need to first understand how to build triads. Check out my article on Music Triads if you do not know anything about the 4 triads in music.

I’m using the C major scale as an example for all major scale chord types because it is the only scale without sharps and flats.

Let’s cover some facts and characteristics about chords and scales.

Scales defined:

• Scales are specific notes from the chromatic scale that (usually) have a tonal center.
• Any specific scale is defined by the intervals within the scale.
• Most scales have anywhere from 5 to 8 notes in them.
• Modes are scales that are a part of a parent scale. The major scale is a parent scale with the first scale degree known as the tonic. Every other note in the scale is a mode of the major scale.
• Scales are what you use to build chords and to improvise over those same chords.

Check out my Music Intervals article if you do not have a strong grasp on ALL the intervals. Intervals are vital for transposing and building scales and chords.

Chords defined:

• The first note in any chord is called the root note, as opposed to the 1st of scales known as the tonic.
• Chords are built by adding notes above the root note in patterns of 3rds.
• The four triads are the most basic chords with the intervals of a root note (1 or 1st), a third (3 or 3rd) and a fifth (5 or 5th).
• Seventh chords are built when you add the note a 3rd away from the 5th, ninths add the note a third away from the 7th, etc. Did you notice the odd #s as the pattern to building chords?
• All chords are built using the 7 letters (A thru G) as the possible chord tones, and each letter\note is expressed as the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th & 7th.
• And the pattern continues with the 8th\octave, 9th (2nd +7), 10th (3rd +7), 11th (4th +7), 12th (5th + 7) and finally 13th (6th + 7). That is important to remember, especially for the 9th, 11th & 13th.
• So all the possible chord tones are 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th, 11th & 13th. For C major that is C-E-G-B-D-F-A, but check it out for yourself in other scales and modes.

You should now understand what the numbers in chord names mean, like 6, sus4, add9, 13, 7#9, etc.

Chords and scales are one and the same

Now let’s look at the similarities and connections between chords and scales:

• Chords are groups of notes that sound good together. And scales are groups of notes that also sound good together.
• Generally, scales are practiced and played one note at a time, where chords are notes played at the same time. The exception would be playing scales in intervals and playing chords as single notes known as arpeggios.
• All the chords built from the same scale sound good together.
• It’s common to use the scale a chord is built from to improvise over that chord.

When you first learn guitar, you learn chords so that you can play songs. Later on, you learn scales so that you can improvise over the chord changes in songs.

Types of chords

So I came up with 77 chord types, 2 of them are duplicates of other chords (versions minus the root AND 5th), and another 3 that are “questionable”. That leaves 72 chords types.

Of the 77 chord types, there are 44 “unique” chords and 37 chord names that have notes in them that equal at least one other chord name. Unique chords are chords where no other chord has the same notes. For example, C major is a unique chord, but C6 equals an Am7 chord.

I break up chords by their base quality: major, minor, suspended, diminished, augmented and 7♭5. Then I differentiate the chords by what I call adds (6, add9, 6/9, etc.), and 7ths + extensions (9ths, 11ths, and 13ths). And I further break up the chords by whether the 7ths are major 7’s or flat 7’s.

Types of scales

Most of the chords you will ever see are built from the notes in the various major scale keys. But the major scale can not build all the chord types.

For the fancy-schmancy chords, you need to use the harmonic minor, melodic minor or the symmetrical scales to build them. The symmetrical scales I used were the whole tone, augmented and diminished scales.

Scales are used to improvise over chords and chord progressions, which scale you use depends on the music genre and your personal choice.

The biggest commonality between scales and chords are that they are both built with specific intervals. Know and understand your intervals! The tables below show mode and chord intervals, NOT notes.

Chords built from the C major scale

This article covers 77 chord types and 44 of them can be built from the major scale. I am only showing those 44 types as they are built from the C major scale.

That does not mean that the other scales can not build some of the same chords. They can. I’m only giving examples of each chord type and I’m using the major scale because it is the oldest scale historically.

Every major chord that does not have a #11 or ♭7 in it are shown as C chords. Any major chord with a #11 goes to F and major chords with a flat 7 got to G.

All diminished chords are built as B chords and all minor chords go to the note D.

That’s is 5 of the 7 notes of C major leaving E & A and all the suspended chords.

E only gets one chord, the 7sus ♭9 chord, since it is the only note that can build that chord.

The remainder of the suspended chords go to A & G, where G gets the sus4 chords that have the 6\13 in them, and A gets the rest.

For example, I show the sus add9 chord as Asus add9 with the intervals of 1-4-5-9 and that it equals an E7sus. The note A is not the only note that can build a sus add9 chord, so can D and G.

Likewise, the add9 chord is shown for C, but F and G also build add9 chords.

Here are the intervals by mode for the C major scale followed by every chord type that can be built from the scale. Be prepared for lots of tables. The columns Equal1, Equal2, and Equal3 Chords are the chords that equal the example chord.

Notes on some of the chords built from the (C) major scale

F add#11 – Not common but has a great nasty sound to it. I’ve seen add#11 chords in songs by the Police, Coldplay, The Who, and Pink Floyd.

C6 add9 – Equals all the notes of the C major pentatonic. Hopefully, you understand why I gave all sus4 chords with a 6th to the note G.

Cmaj9/13 – Most people call this a Cmaj13, but I include the 9 in the chord name to differentiate it from a straight-up Cmaj13 chord.

G6 sus – I think I saw this chord in a Joni Mitchell song, but she mostly played in altered tunings. I don’t think this a generally accepted chord, but it is possible to see it.

G6sus add9 – Even though a 6sus add9 equals a m11, 9sus, and a 6 add9 chord, I would never think about using it. I did see it once in a CSN&Y song.

C6 add9/11 and F6 add9/#11 – These are known as polychords and tend to only be used by jazz guys. The C polychord is equal to a C and Dm chord, while the F poly is equal to an F and G major chord. I do have chord voicings for them, but you could also have 2 guitar players each play one of the chords.

G9/11, 9/13 and 11/13 are “phat” sounding chords. Similar to the maj9/13, the 9/13 is usually only written as 13 which I believe is the wrong name. The 9/13 chord gave me the idea to try 9/11 and 11/13 chords (they sound great).

I did not include suspended chords with a major 7th on C, the I chord, because they sound horrible (IMO). Don’t do it, but if you want to you can build a Cmaj7 sus, Cmaj9 sus (equals G11), and Cmaj13 sus.

Download my Chords in C major PDF to see every possible chord that can be built from the notes in C major. And that is every possible chord in my opinion. Or go to my Downloads page to download separate PDF files by scale degree for every open guitar chord in C major (445 total).

I highly recommend that you build every chord possible on every scale degree for the keys of F, C, G, D, A, and E major. Those are the best keys for open guitar chords.

Take a look at my article C Major Scale Chords for a list of every chord built from C major. I also link to every article that has guitar shapes for all those chords.

Chords built from the A harmonic minor scale

This is the next scale historically if I am correct, and therefore the first scale where augmented triads appear. Here are the mode intervals and 9 chords built from the A harmonic minor that can’t be built from the major scale.

Note that you CAN build some of the chords mentioned above for the major scale using the harmonic minor, but these chords can not be built from the major scale. For example, look at the E7♭9 chord – you can obviously build both an E major triad and E chord.

I highly recommend that you build every chord possible on every scale degree for the harmonic minor keys of Dm, Am, Em, and Bm. Those are the best keys for open guitar chords. You can include G harmonic minor but the open E & B are avoid strings. This means you have to fret and/or mute the high E and B strings which greatly restricts the available chord voicings.

Chords built from the A melodic minor scale

The altered scale and 7alt chords come from the melodic minor scale.

Here are the mode intervals and 11 chord types from the A melodic minor scale.

You should also build every chord possible on every scale degree for the melodic minor keys of Cm, Gm, Dm, Am, Em, and maybe Bm. Those are the best melodic minor keys for open guitar chords. You have to avoid both open E strings for C melodic minor and the open A & G strings for B melodic minor.

Also, I technically did not label the intervals correctly for the Altered scale. Instead, I labeled the notes as the common chord tones in a 7alt chord.

Notes on the G# chords:

The G# chords would most often be labeled as A♭ chords but I didn’t want to throw anyone off. A♭7alt chords are more common to see than G#, but I could be wrong.

Chords built from the whole tone and diminished scales

The remaining 13 chords can be built from the whole tone and diminished scales. Though there is one more chord, the 7#9♭13 chord (1-3-5-♭7-#9-♭13) that I will only mention here.

I think I made up the 7#9♭13 chord years ago when I noticed it as the only chord with altered notes not on my list. It can be built from the Major Bebop scale on the 3rd scale degree. but I’m sure “jazzers” would say just play a 7#5#9.

I also decided not to include the 7♭13 chord for the same reason as it is basically a 7#5 chord.

Here are the chords from both scales rooted on G making them altered 7th chords that take you to C major (and other keys). Note that NR stands for no root and N5 for no fifth.

The Diminished Scale

This symmetrical 8-note scale has the formula of alternating half steps and whole steps resulting in 1-♭9-#9-3-#11/♭5-5-6/13-♭7.

G Diminished Scale Chords
G7♭9#11:  1-3-5-♭7-♭9-#11
G13♭9 1-3-5-♭7-13-♭9
G13♭9 NR, N5 : 3-♭7-13-♭9  and the chord equals Fm-maj7♭5
G7#9: 1-3-5-♭7-#9
G7#9#11: 1-3-5-♭7-♭9-#11 and it equals a D♭13♭5♭9 chord.
G13#9: 1-3-5-♭7-13-#9
G13#9 NR, N5: 3-♭7-13-#9 and it equals a D♭13#9 NR, N5.
G13♭5: 1-3-♭5-♭7-13 and it equals a D♭7♭5#9.
G13♭5♭9: 1-3-♭5-♭7-13-♭9 and it equals D♭7#9#11.
G13♭5#9: 1-3-♭5-♭7-13-#9 and it equals D♭13♭5#9.

The Whole Tone Scale

This symmetrical scale formula is all whole steps resulting in 1-9-3-♭5-#5-♭7.

G Whole Tone Scale Chords
G9#5: 1-3-#5-♭7-9 and it equals F9♭5
G9♭5: 1-3-♭5-♭7-9 and it equals A9#5
G9♭5♭13 1-3-♭5-♭7-9-♭13 and it equals the same chord on each chord tone. It actually is every note of the G whole tone scale.

You should also build every chord possible in both the whole tone and diminished scales. There are only 2 keys for each scale: C and D♭.

Also, try building chords in other scales like the blues scale or bebop scales and see what kind of chords you get. It’s a good exercise. Take a look at my Augmented Scale article to see the chords from that scale.

The Bebop scales:

I’m briefly covering the bebop scales because I find them interesting.

1. The Major Bebop is the major scale with the augmented 5th added, e.g. C major scale + G#.
2. The Dorian Blues scale is the Dorian mode with the ♭5 added and it equals the notes of the Major Bebop scale starting on the 2nd degree, e.g. D Dorian Blues = C Major Bebop.
3. The Minor Bebop and Dominant Bebop scales are modes of each other. The minor bebop is the Dorian mode with the major 3rd added, while the dominant bebop is the Mixolydian mode with the major 7th added. D minor bebop and G dominant bebop have the same notes.

* Consider combining the Dorian Blues scale and the Minor Bebop for a 9-note scale: 1-9-#9-3-4-♭5-5-13-♭7. It has every chromatic note except the ♭9, #5 and M7!

Recap of my chords and scales for guitar

The scales I use the most are:

1. The major & minor pentatonic
2. The blues scale
3. The major scale and the Dorian, Mixolydian and Aeolian \ natural minor modes.

That’s about it for me but I do see value in learning licks from the melodic and harmonic minors, as well as the whole tone and diminished scales.

Here is an ordered list of every guitar chord type that I listed above and which I have open and closed chord shapes. I’m ordering them with my preferred order (major, min, sus, dim, aug, 7♭5) and then add notes in ascending order.

Major + adds: major triad, 6, add9, add#11, 6 add9, add9/11, add9/#11, 6 add9/11, 6 add9/#11
7ths: 7, 9, 11, 13, 9/11, 9/13, 11/13
7ths with ♭’s and #’s: 7♭9, 7♭9#11, 7♭9♭13, 11♭9, 13♭9, 7#9, 7#9#11, 7#9♭13, 13#9, 7#11, 9#11, 13#11
Major 7ths: maj7, maj9, maj13, maj9/13, maj7#11, maj9#11, maj13#11
Minors: minor triad, m6, m add9, m6 add9, m7, m9, m11, m13, m-maj7, m9-maj7
Suspended: sus4, sus2, 6 sus, sus add9, 6sus add9, 7sus, 7sus ♭9, 9sus, 13sus, 13sus ♭9
Diminished: dim triad, dim7, m7♭5, m9♭5, m11♭5, m-maj7♭5
Augmented: aug triad, 7#5, 7#5♭9, 9#5, 7#5#9, maj7#5
Flat 5’s: 7♭5, 7♭5♭9, 9♭5, 7♭5#9, 9♭5♭13, 13♭5, 13♭5♭9, 13♭5#9, maj7♭5

I will add pdf files for download, as I make them, of every closed guitar chord and every open chord from the key of C major, as well as the CAGED positions for all the scales I mention in this article.

The most common chords in popular music (my top 13 guitar chords)

Here is my list of the most common and basic chords that every guitar player should know:

Major: major triad, add9, 6, 7, 9, 7#9, maj7, maj9
Minor: min triad, m add9, m7
Suspended: sus4, 7sus

13 other noteworthy chords: 6 add9, 13, maj13, m6, m9, m-maj7, sus2, 9sus, dim, dim7, m7♭5, +, 7#5

You can get in a lot of playing with those 13 to 26 chords.

Final Thoughts

I know what you’re thinking – that’s too many chords. Maybe. It really depends on your preferred genre of music, whether you write originals or only play covers, and truly understand how to use all the chords.

When you learn how to build chords from scales, so much fundamental music theory will start to make sense. Just do it when you have a little bit of downtime.

Some future articles will be on Chord Tendency, Chord Substitutions, every chord with the B-F tritone, and advanced Slash chords. Those articles will help you understand how and when to use some of the complex chords in this article.

If you really love scales, check out the crazy long list of scales on Wikipedia.

“Use your mind when you are practicing guitar, but use your heart and emotions while playing and writing music.”

The post Chords From Scales: Comprehensive List Of Guitar Chords appeared first on Every Guitar Chord.

Diminished triads have a minor third and a diminished fifth, hence the name. It is built by adding a note a minor third above the root note, and a note a minor third above that second note.

You can add a diminished, minor or major 7th to the diminished triad to form the fully diminished, half-diminished and m-maj7♭5 chords respectively.

The diminished triad: chord formula

Take a look at my article on the 4 triads in music which includes the diminished triad. I cover each triad in detail so give that a quick read.

Basically, a diminished triad is built by stacking 2 minor thirds (m3) above a root note. That means that you add the note a minor third above the root note, then you add the note that is a minor third above the second note added (m3 + m3).

You can also view the diminished triad as a minor triad with a flattened 5th. Also, check out my music intervals article for descriptions of all the intervals used to build scales and chords.

All 7th-degree notes in major scales build a diminished triad. Let’s look at a B diminished triad in the key of C major as an example. The image below shows the notes in the B Locrian mode from the C major scale and the B Ultra Locrian from the C Harmonic Minor scale.

You can build a diminished triad from both scales. There are other scales that have diminished triads in them, but the half-diminished seventh chord and fully diminished seventh chord covered below have their origins in these two scales.

The chord formula for a diminished triad is:

Root note + minor third + diminished fifth = 1 – m3 – d5 = 1 – ♭3 – ♭5 = m3 + m3

The diminished triad is not very common in popular music (rock, country, etc.), though it is common in jazz and sometimes blues. You will see it in some popular genres, but usually, the dominant 7th is preferred since any dom7 chord contains the diminished triad.

Popular songs with a dim triad

Here are a number of songs that use the dim triad from the songbooks I own. Here are some examples that use the diminished triad:

Beach Boys: Caroline No, Friends, God Only Knows, Graduation Day, Let’s Go Away For A While
Beatles: Baby You’re A Rich Man, Blackbird, Hard Days Night, Michelle, I’m Happy Just To Dance With You, Penny Lane, Strawberry Fields Forever
Grateful Dead: The Other One, Dark Star, The Music Never Stopped
Led Zeppelin: Since I’ve Been Loving You
Sting: Mad About You
Simon & Garfunkel: Bridge Over Troubled Water
Jimmy Bryant: Stratosphere Boogie
Silverman’s Folk Song Encyclopedia, Vol. I & II: There are about 30 songs in each volume that use a diminished triad.

What is a half-diminished chord (m7♭5)?

A half-diminished 7th chord is just the diminished triad with a ♭7 added. It is notated as m7♭5 or with the ^ø symbol and a 7, e.g. B^ø7 = Bm7♭5. By the way, that particular chord equals a m6 chord on the ♭3:

B-D-F-A (B^ø7) = D-F-A-B (Dm6)

B^ø7  or Bm7♭5 = 1 – ♭3 – ♭5 – ♭7 = 1-m3-d5-m7

The chord gets its name because the perfect 5th is diminished, but the seventh degree is not. There is a fully diminished chord that does have a diminished seventh degree (see below).

The half-diminished chord is a “… considerable instability”. – Henry, Earl and Rogers, Michael (2004). Tonality and Design in Music Theory, Vol. I

Half-diminished seventh chords only have that name because there is a fully diminished seventh chord. Otherwise, the chord would just be called a m7♭5 –  I use “m7♭5” and not ^ø7 when I write out the chord.

Popular songs with a half-diminished chord

Here are some examples of songs that use the m7♭5 chord:

Beach Boys: Caroline No, Don’t Talk, God Only Knows, I Just Wasn’t Made for These Times, Let’s Go Away for a While
Grateful Dead: Cosmic Charlie, France, The Music Never Stopped, Terrapin Station
Bob Dylan: When I Paint My Masterpiece
Beatles: Penny Lane
Little Feat: Time Loves A Hero
Stevie Wonder: My Cherie Amour, You Are the Sunshine of My Life

To better understand what a half-diminished seventh chord is, let’s take a look at the fully diminished chord.

The fully diminished chord

The fully diminished chord (dim7) is one of the 2 symmetrical chords. Symmetrical chords and scales have notes in them that are an equal distance apart from each other.

Most people only mention the dim7 and augmented triad as chords that repeat after a certain interval but there are 4 other ones: 7♭9#11, 13#9 (no root or 5th), 7♭5, 13♭5#9 and 9♭5♭13. Know that tritones invert to tritones.

Dim7 chords consist of two tritones and the chord repeats every minor 3rd \ 3 frets. What that means is you can move the chord shape a minor third and it has the same notes in it but on different strings. Try it out for yourself – it’s really cool.

Like an augmented triad, the diminished seventh chord can have any of the chord tones as the root.

Bdim7 (B-D-F-A♭) = Ddim7 = Fdim7 = A♭\G#dim7

The chord is notated with a superscript circle followed by the number 7, e,g, Bdim7 = B^o7 = B-D-F-A♭. I just notate it as “dim7”.

It is called a fully diminished chord because the 7th is diminished:

A# = the major 7th of B
A = the minor 7th, or ♭7, of B
A♭ = the diminished 7th, or ♭♭7. of B

So the fully diminished 7th chord has the diminished 5th and diminished 7th, but the half-diminished 7th chord only has a diminished 5th.

B^o7 = B-D-F-A♭ = 1 – ♭3 – ♭5 – ♭♭7 = 1-m3-d5-d7 = m3 + m3 + m3
B^ø7 = B-D-F-A = 1 – ♭3 – ♭5 – ♭7 = 1-m3-d5-m7 = m3 + m3 + M3

That’s the only difference – the half-diminished \  m7♭5 has the minor 7th, whereas the dim7 has the diminished 7th.

Popular songs with a fully diminished chord

Here are some songs that use the dim7 chord:

Allman Brothers: In Memory of Elizabeth Reed, One Way Out (outro)
Beatles: I’m Happy Just to Dance With You, Penny Lane, Strawberry Fields, Blackbird
Bob Dylan: Leopard-Skin Pillbox Hat, When I Paint My Masterpiece
Grateful Dead: Dark Star, The Music Never Stopped, Ship of Fools, Tennessee Jed, Deal
Eric Clapton: Mainline Florida
Reverend Gary Davis: Make Believe Stunt
Garth Brooks: Friends in Low Places
Albert Lee: Bullish Boogie
Jerry Reed: The Claw
Silverman’s Folk Song Encyclopedia, Vol. II: 6 songs with a dim7 on pages 21, 27, 30, 43, 63 & 362.

Other scales that build diminished chords

You can also build a diminished triad in the Melodic Minor scale on the 6th and 7th degree, and the Harmonic Minor scale on the 2nd, 4th, 6th & 7th degrees. If you like the diminished sound, here are some other scales that contain a dim triad:

1. Major Bebop on the 2nd, 4th, 6th & the 8th scale notes.
2. Blues Scale on the root.
3. Half-Step Whole-Step Diminished scale (HW Dim) on the root and every other note after the root

The major bebop, and of course the diminished scale, build diminished chords, but most people don’t think of dim chords in the  Blues Scales. It’s not standard to think of that scale as building diminished chords, but the notes are there to build them (dim & m7♭5).

Other diminished chords (m9♭5, m11♭5, m-maj7♭5)

There are three more dim chords that you don’t often see: m9♭5, m11♭5, and m-maj7♭5.

I like the minor 11 flat 5 chord (m11♭5) the best out of these other dim chords. Stevie Wonders uses a m11♭5 in “If You Really Love Me”. The chord formula for a minor eleven flat five chord is 1-♭3-♭5-♭7-11, e.g. Bm11♭5 = B-D-F-A-E.

A minor eleven flat five equals a m6 add 9 on the ♭3 and a 7sus♭9 on the 11 of the chord, and all those chords resolve nicely to the tonic chord. The m6 add9 chord is a staple in jazz, but I’m not so sure about m11♭5 or 7sus♭9 chords.

Bm11♭5 (B-D-F-A-E) = Dm6 add9 (D-F-A-B-E) and E7sus♭9 (E-A-B-D-F) – all resolve nicely to a C major chord.

The next diminished chord is a minor 9 flat five notated as m9♭5 (1-♭3-♭5-♭7-9) and is built from the Melodic Minor scale on the 6th degree. It has the same notes as a 7#5♭9 chord on the 9th.

Bm9♭5 (B-D-F-A-C#) = C#7#5♭9 (C#-F-A-B-D). The major 3rd of C# is E# or F, and the augmented 5th is G## or A.

And the last diminished chord is a dim triad with a major 7th called a “minor major 7 flat five” and notated as m-maj7♭5 (1-♭3-♭5-7).  I assume only jazz guys use this chord. It comes from the Harmonic Major and Harmonic Minor scales. An example is:

Bm-maj7♭5 = B-D-F-A#

I think the m-maj7♭5 chord works best as a leading tone chord to a minor tonic chord. So Bm-maj7♭5 > C minor. Another great V7 chord to get you back to a minor tonic chord is the 7#9 chord on the V, e.g. G7#9 > Cm. If you play a G7#9 without the root it has the same notes as Bm-maj7♭5.

Table of B diminished chords

Here is a table of all the B diminished chords. The columns Equal Chord1 thru 3 are the other chords that contain the same notes.

Diminished chords for guitar

Here are the chord voicings I have for diminished chords, including open versions for the B diminished triad and every other B diminished chord. There are only 5 diminished chord shapes that have a 2 or 3-bar chord shape. Dim chords just don’t make barring them easy.

Take a look at the chord block chart below for all the symbols I use for chords on this site. Refer back to it as you need.

Closed Diminished triad & open B diminished triad guitar chord shapes

In my opinion, the dim triads are not good for strumming but are better played with hybrid picking or fingerpicking.

A good example is are the arpeggios at the opening of “Red House” by Jimi Hendrix. The chords in the opening measures are notated as E7 & Eb7 (if I remember correctly) but it’s actually G#dim & Gdim.

My favorite dim voicings are #’s 1, 2 & 5 and the #2 Bdim is okay.

 

 

Closed diminished 7th’s (m7♭5 & dim7) & open B diminished 7th chord shapes

Let me make some notes on some of the chord shapes below.

1. The #4 m7♭5 chord shape is often taught as a dominant 9th chord which it shouldn’t be. It’s a great substitute for a 9th but it’s a half-diminished 7th chord. Keep that in mind if you ever encounter it.
2. For the 3 dim7 chords, I mark EACH note as the root of the chord, because each note is, or can be, the root.

I like both dim7chords, #1 Bdim7, #’s 1, 3, 4, 5 & 8 m7♭5 and only #1 Bm7♭5.

 

 

 

All other closed and open B diminished chords (m9♭5, m11♭5, m-maj7♭5)

I like most of the chords below except for #2 Bm9♭5. It doesn’t sound good, probably because of the ♭5 ringing out over the open B note. It is included here in case someone finds a use for that dissonance.  Also, I could not find 1 closed voicing for a m9♭5 chord – only open chords.

 

 

How to use the diminished triad and half-diminished chords

As I mentioned, I don’t often use the diminished triad or half-diminished seventh chord often because they are a part of the V7 & V9 chords. Let me show you what I mean:

B dim = B – D – F
G7 = G – (B – D – F)

Bm7♭5 = B – D – F – A
G9 = G – (B – D – F – A)

You can use either chord it in place of the V7 chord before going to the I or i chord. I do often use the D7 shape of a diminished triad in place of a 7 chord, especially in blues tunes.

How to use the dim7 chord

It’s common to use a dim7 chord 1 semitone above the V7 chord – replace G7 with A♭dim7 and it is a substitute for a G7♭9.

Or use it as a leading tone chord, e.g. Bdim7 > Cmaj. You can use the other tritone to go to a whole new key:

B-D-F-A♭ – The B & F in Bdim7 takes you C major, while D & A♭\G# take you to A major. But it can also resolve to C major, E♭ major, F#\G♭ major and A major. It sounds okay to resolve to the keys of E♭ & G♭ but it is a little weak.

But the fully diminished 7th chord will also resolve to the minor versions of those keys: Cm, E♭m, F#\G♭m & Am. Also, try using a dim7 chord a major second above a V7 chord.

Also, try it a 1/2 step above the IV7 chord before going to the I7 chord in blues. For example, a Bdim7 will resolve nicely to F7 as the I chord in F blues: B♭7 -> Bdim7 -> F7.

As a matter of fact, a Bdim7 will resolve to the major version of each chord tone: Bmaj, Dmaj, Fmaj, Abmaj.

Also, try moving one of the notes of the dim7 chord up a half step to a note in the resolving chord. For example, Bdim with the A♭ resolves nicely to A major or minor if the actual A♭ pitch in the chord moves to an A note on the same string 1 step ahead.

Jazz guys are the best at using dim7 and m7♭5 chords so I’ll leave it to them. I just stick with the normal chords of a key that contain the tritone.

The tritone

When it comes down to it, let the tritone be your guide. You can use any chord that has the same tritone that is in the V7 chord. You would use it in place of the V7 to get you back “home” to the I. The B & F in the G7 and Bdim7 chords do just that, as do the chords Dm6, Fmaj7#11, etc.

For a really detailed examination of the resolving tendency of diminished chords, check out Diminished Chord – How To Use on the Simplifying Theory site.

Summary

It’s up to you whether you want to experiment with diminished triads and the various seventh chords. The fully diminished seventh is interesting, but I tend not to bother with the other ones, though I have found some m11♭5 voicings that sound fantastic.

Another option is to switch between B diminished and G dominant 7ths chords because they have the same function. Take a look at my articles: G7 Guitar Chords and Double Extended G7 Chords. Also, look at my Comprehensive List of Chords for all the chords that can be built from popular scales.

Mess around, experiment – there is no harm in learning more than you will ever need.

“It’s your mind, it’s your creativity, it’s your guitar, and most importantly, it’s your music – do what you want to do (just make sure it sounds good)”. ~ quote by Kernix

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