Diminished and Augmented Chords - How and when to use them:

[ifightaliens]

Great lesson. Very easy to understand.

[EthanSares]

are you from new zealand? your accent is awesome.

[mechwarreir2]

ahem... Its C, E flat, G flat, and B double flat.... when naming a chord you must use every other letter, its like that when you name ANY CHORD!!! >:(

[CrazyBlonde2393]

thanks this helped with my hw! :)

[matiquielma]

Your videos are quite the best all arround the web, you should get a better camera, a "studio", and start doing this for a living.

[mth3d]

half diminished is a m7b5, which is what he says and demonstrates in the video. spelled 1 b3 b5 b7. it's a cool sounding chord. thanks for the video!

[tflorent]

Hi Ben,

nice videos, short and easy

was a Bm7b5 at the end that goes on a E7?

I have the feeling that a "Am" is missing after that, to do: iim7(b5) V I or am I too basic in my approach?

[theinck]

Time to drink some major G and Tonic

[akamarutv]

Another great use for augmented chords is to take the third note of a major scale and build an augmented chord from it. Then move down to Ebm7 follower by EbmMaj7 Ohhh nice...

[GlitchHalo]

why is music theory so complicated v_v

[akamarutv]

@GlitchHalo

Let me sum up what he said:"

Augmented: Form a major chord and sharp the fifth

Diminished: Play a minor chord and flat the 5th

No need to talk about intervals really... That stuff about thirds and such is not important in chord usage.

Here's you some ideas

Augmented: Caug7 is great to use just before a C# chord.

Caug7 resolves to C#

Diminished: Very nice to use before a minor 7th chord in some situations.

[yellowcactus70]

I think that it is cool how since in terms of half-steps, diminished and augmented chords (and chromatic and whole-tone scales) all go up by a specific pattern (3-3-3-3 for diminished, 4-4-4 for augmented, 1-1-1-1-1.....-1 for chromatic, and 2-2-2-2-2-2 for whole-tone), they can only be "inversioned" the number of times that their intervals of half-steps factor into 12, the number of notes in an octave. That is why they sound so off.

[Biozene]

I really like augmented chords, they have a very mysterious sound to them. I want to make a song sometime that uses mostly or only those chords! haha.

[Sciesch]

Great video, helped me a lot to understand this stuff, thank you! :)

[ninebreaker21]

A diminished triad is a root, minor 3rd and diminished 5th. A diminished 7th chord includes the diminished 7th note.

[cnyhoo]

well... thanks very much MusicGuru. You've just made my another day playing piano :)

[Spawnmorelulz]

Technically hiddengen is right, that is the proper way to spell it. This is a nice intro to augmented and diminished chords, but for somebody who wants to understand the underlying theory behind the chords they may get confused later on unless taught the proper spelling. Still a very good video, I found what I was looking for: applications of the Aug chord. Thanks! :)

[tanikabubble]

omgsh to hiddengen go home

[SuperDaveOkie]

Thanks for the first video I found (not to imply this is the only one on YouTube) on how the chords work as opposed to simply how to spell them. I found this very helpful.

[FFXGuitar]

omfg toy story!!!

[chunky120781]

I recognize that keyboard... Korg sp-250?

[hiddengen]

Your spelling of the chords is completely wrong. C Diminished you spelled as C Eb F# (1,b3,#4) which would make it some kind of Lydian minor spelling. Adding the A would make it a C Diminished 7th but it isn't an A either it's a Bbb (1,b3,b5,o7) whereas you're spelling it 1,b3,#4,6

[dje196]

Thanks for the insight, but I wouldn't say this is 'Completely wrong'.

[hiddengen]

Yeah, that came across a bit discourteous. All errors were addressed+corrected in a subsequent video as well. I didn't see it till later though

[tomdreamevil]

So it's because it was spelt enharmonically incorrect that you don't like yeah?

[dhfjal]

who cares

[CodyRicheson]

People who want to make decent music care.

[scarred123]

Thumbs up on that. Unfortunately we live in a world surrounded by music n00bs who dont know a thing about theory.

[Slapnutzmalone]

@scarred123 No. We live in a world of knowledge snobs. You call people names because they don't posses the knowledge you possess. You stick your fucking nose in the air and look down it at people and judge and flaunt and strut like fucking drag queen.

Unfortunately we live in a world surrounded by people like you.

On the upside, that gives us the golden opportunity to pump your fucking teeth down your throat.

I see a fiery car accident in your future. No, wait...it's your children's future!

[jllroots1]

right on; it's DIMINISHED, it's G-flat...

[kamerius]

G augmenteeeeeed :)

[tylereightynine]

are diminished chords used in minor keys?

[tdubasdfg]

diminished chords are always the 7th chord that leads back to one

in natural minor there isn't the diminished chord that goes to one but thats why they made harmonic minor where the 7th is shard so you can use that to lead back to one

[Fleshsifter]

time to go download that toy story song

[stepminestepminestep]

well halo, that is nice that you are SOOO advanced in theory. Yet you are still working on variations on your V chord forms. If you pay closer attention, augmented and diminished chords were used not just for a one-track-minded resolution to the Ionian mode or the majors only. They are also used to change key in substitution or in conjuntion with "key modulation" or the "pitch axis principle".There are alot more dim. chords too. Why watch this then if you know? So you aren't some genius.Lol.

[Slapnutzmalone]

@stepminestepminestep Wow!!! Who's the asshole framing themselves as a genius now?

So, is that your thing? You go around Youtube with your pompous holier than thou attitude and flash YOUR knowledge like it's some merit badge and then accuse someone of doing WHAT YOU JUST DID?

That makes you an asshole! That's not music theory, theory or relativity, or theory of any kind. I don't have to use Occam's razor or deductive reasoning to figure that out. It's obvious.

You're a snob and hypocrite!

[Jance18]

thank you, it helped me a lot :)

Kind regards

[valvetrom]

TRY this: write and play from each scale the first 3 notes, start with G.

GAB CDE FGA BbCD EbFG AbBbC etc you will find patterns . etc have fun.

[swedishzug]

You are excellent at explaining.... Thank you....

[renderman86]

What do diminished chord resolve to?

And can you make any scale degree diminished? Like the tonic? If so, would that diminished tonic resolve to the tonic?

[RobSchneeberger]

Say you have a B diminished chord, it would reslove to a C because b diminished is 3/4 of what makes up a G7 chord ( G B D F ). If you played your tonic diminished chord, say C diminished, it would resolve to an Eb major chord because the Ab7 chord contains Ab C Eb Gb. Basically all you are doing with diminished chords is finding your 5 chord because it is a dominant 7 chord.

[CP47]

So a Cdim would resolve into a either a Db, E, G, or Bb?

[RobSchneeberger]

yeah, i dunno why i said Cdim to Eb major, got mixed up in the thinking i guess

[valvetrom]

and even better: Dbm, a c d# f# a into Em. f3 c c eb into Gm, a c eb gb into Bbm . I just love the minor scales.

[Lotrompetista]

But B diminished chord can also resolve to A because is the prolongation of E chord.

B diminished: B D F

E: E G# B D F

This happens in a lot of latin pieces, like Blue Bossa, where D(b5)7 resolves to Cm7.

There are a lot of forms to interpret and use the chords, no?

I'm sorry for my English, I'm spanish

[valvetrom]

Tonic diminished means you are in C scale. Cdim would most likely be followed by a Dm7.

If you want to go to Eb,better use:Fm7 Bb7 Eb

And for my ears a Bdim would rather go to Cm

(because of the ab )

The diminshed(and there are by sound only 3 possible) is a joker, a glue in between,

a hybrid.

But please follow your own ears and logic , let me not disturb what you enjoy!

[madamegroovekiller]

if you guys are in question about the B half diminished chord he played, you can perceive it as a 2 chord in A minor. the next chord he played was an E 7 chord, so he simply played a 2-5 progression in the key of A minor. i don't know what he meant by the chord being able to replace c- minor...im not sure

[valvetrom]

Now finally a musician is saying it simply.

In the old days a B halfdim was called Dm6.

Its a combination of IVmover II bass.

Bm7b5(half dim)is Dm/B.

[kuj4z]

this is good stuff

[veganumber1]

good video, but I can understand :( only more or less

[floyddestroyer]

Great job at explaining. The one thing I would change is describing and explaning interval relationships in scales and also the degrees of chords, just the simple things like minor, major, etc. But other than that, great job, 5 stars.

[THESONARIAN]

Very good stuff ... thank you for posting ...

Don ...

[Malicemental]

I have been baffled by this so many times, but you are making life easier and making me actually put it into practice!

I dont mind what they are called, as long as I am playing and expanding my harmony.

Thank you again

xx

[jrchaney1]

hey music guru, i am a little new at the you tube thing and i really like your stuff, so is there anyway that i can get copies of what you post on the internet

[bslaer]

amazing thank you very clear all i play is classical this is a tremendous resource

[jefgain]

Your descriptions were difficult for me to understand but it made me examine the note relationships between a regular chord and a dim chord and then I was able to figure it out. So thanks for the springboard.

[RL82]

I'm a little confused by your terminology. The chord that you refer to as the "half" dimished chord is--to my knowledge--a standard diminished triad; and the chord that you call a "full" diminished chord I've always known as a diminished 7th chord... I've never seen a standard diminished triad referred to as a "half" diminished by itself, rather, a "half-diminished 7th" when you add a dom7th of the scale.

[MusicGuru12]

I think I can see where you're coming from. I've always thought that full dimished chord consists of: The Tonic - I The Minor Third - bIII The Flattened Fifth - bV The Major Sixth - VI Therefore a Cdim chord would be: C - Eb - F#/Gb - A A half Dim is just a simple bunch of minor thirds. Perhaps I am wrong though... A diminished chord usually comes before a chord a semi-tone below it...so the 7th may carry on from the previous chord. I'm not sure. Sorry for the confusion, Ben

[komentattor]

I'm not an expert, but I play it this way:

C dimshed: C Eb Gb A C half-dim: C Eb Gb Bb

I always explained, that the second chord is "half-dimished" because there is no A, so it isn't full bunch of minor triads, it's "broken".

[ramindsr]

@RL82 Half diminished chord comes from the Locrian mode If the if a minor seventh is added to a normal diminished triad it remains in the Locrian mode and would be a half diminished chord. The diminished seventh chord your thinking of has a "double flat" seventh which leaves the major scale that the chord originates. What im trying to get at is the diminished seventh chord comes from the diminished scale. It fits right around it....but yea the half diminished is a diatonic chord.

[ACollegeMusic]

@RL82 A half diminished chord as i understand it, is a minor 7 with a flattened 5th, easy peezy. Full diminished is where the notes are a minor 3rd apart, starting on the tonic note and progressing in a linear sequence. Augmented is where you would sharpen the 5th note of a major chord, and possibly any other note you would wish to sharpen as long as it is not integral to the main structure of the major chord, eg. the major 3rd interval.

[RL82]

@ACollegeMusic -- Yeah

[piapiapiapiano]

nice one ben great video explains it well