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§ Using Diminished Chords
created 2025-10-09
- Recall: diminished chord is made up entirely of minor 3rds, so
C Eb Gb A is a Cdim chord. - Technique 1 (Suspended Diminished) : If we are going to play eg
C chord for a long time, then throw in a Cdim in the middle. So, play C E G, C Eb Gb Ab, C E G. - Technique 2 (Drop in Diminished): For stride piano, before playing the 2 chord, a
Dm or a Dm7, use the diminished chord up a half step to drop into the Dm chord, which is Eb Gb A C. So we play Eb Gb A C, followed by D F A (C). - Technique 3 (Lift in Diminished): We come from the other direction. Go down a half step from
C to get Bdim, which is B D F Ab, before playing C E G. - Technique 4 (Coloring Dominant): Play diminished half step up from the root of the V chord. So, if we are playing
G7 (the 5 chord in C), play Abdim, which is Ab B D F. This gives us a G7b9 chord, which is a nice tension chord. This gives a nice tension before resolving to the C chord.
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