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Lesson 16: Full-Diminished 7th Chord Forms

Diminished chords are unique in the fact that they are only made up of four notes, of which any could be its possible root.

The intervalic construction of this chord is easy to remember because it is simply the stacking of minor thirds.

Since each note is a minor third away from the note on either side of it, the entire chord can be moved up or down the fretboard by a minor 3rd without changing the name of the chord. You would only be changing the order in which the notes occur.

This ability makes it easy to play different inversions of this chord quickly in succession.

Here are three common forms of full-diminished chords. Once you get them under your fingers, analyze the notes of the chord.

Once you have done this, move the chord up or down a minor third and notice that the chord uses the same notes, except that they now occur in a different order.

The main thing to remember about these chords is that any of the four notes can be the root of the chord.

Copyright 2001 T.A. Vieira, Jr.
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