Diminished Dominant

Download as pdf or txt
Download as pdf or txt
You are on page 1of 1

Dominant/Diminished Related Chords

Dr. John Cipolla


The 3 Diminished 7th Chords
If you invert each chord (flip the bottom note of the chord to the top so you have a new bass note in the chord),
you get the same diminished 7th chord, just spelled in a different order, with a new bass note.
Therefore, since you can spell each chord with 4 different bass notes, and since there are 12 keys,
you really only have 3 diminished 7th chords to learn. Play these at the piano and you will understand this better.
We spelled each chord enharmonically (this means an E and F flat are the same)
4 b œ b b œ
œ nbnœœœ œ nœœœ nnbn œœœœ œ n b œ
œ nb b œœœ
& 4 bn n œœœ bnb œœœ n n œœ œ
bœ nb œœœœ b œ
nn œœ œb bbnœœœ bbnœœœ n b œœ n œ
œ
B flat diminished 7th B diminished 7th C diminished 7th

Dominants/diminished Related chords


If you lower each note of the dim 7th chord (one at a time)
B Flat Diminished 7th Chord a half step, you get a dominant 7th chord. These can be
4 (spelled correctly or enharmonically) called the "related" dominants
& bb  œœœ Ó
b œ OR
bnbn œœœœ #nnn œœœœ nnbn œœœœ bbbn œœœœ bnbb œœœœ
B flat Dim 7 A7 C7 E flat 7 G flat 7

Diminished or 1/2 step/Whole step scale


If you combine the B flat dim 7th chord with the A dim 7th, you get a half step/whole step scale
that has all the "color" notes to use over a dominant 7th chord.
6 The A dim 7th is formed from the roots of the "related" dominant 7th chords (A, C, E flat, G flat)
& bn n œœœ Ó  
bœ nbnb œœœœ œ b œ n œ b œ b œ nœ b œ nœ
B flat Dim 7 A dim 7

Putting the related dominants in a solo


Piano player plays the A7 chord and the horn player can
play any of the 4 dominant 7ths over the A7 chord.
The Glue that holds the 4 dominants together is the "related"
diminished 7th, the B flat diminished 7th
11
A7 Horn Player C7 Horn player E flat7 Horn Player G flat7 Horn player
& n n œœ Œ Ó n n œœ Œ Œ Œ bb n œœœ Œ Ó bbbn œœœœ
Œ Ó 
# n œœ n b œœ bœ
A7 Piano player A7 Piano player A7 Piano player A7 Piano player

You might also like