Do You Know How To Use The "Forgotten Chord"?

We all know the basic triads in the key of C major, right? They are C, Dm, Em, F, G, Am, and these are the chords most used whenever you want to write some music in the key of C major.

It's interesting how many musicians 'forget' that there is a chord on the 7th degree of the scale: the B diminished chord (often played in it's '7th chord' form as Bm7/b5 or B half-diminished).

OK, to be fair, it's not true that they simply 'forget' The B diminished chord is objectively harder to use than the other major and minor chords because:

  • It does not sound good 'by itself' like the others. It's a dissonant chord and it needs to be resolved in the right way.
  • While dissonance sounds great if you know what you are doing, a simple trial-and-error approach is not enough to get to use the B diminished chord.
  • Many have no idea how cool this chord sounds in the right place, so there is little incentive to learn.

In this video we'll see together a few simple ways to use the diminished chords that you can apply immediately to your music.

There is nothing hard in what you are about to see, just watch the video and see what this peculiar chord can do for you.

If you liked the sound of the diminished chord, then now you can take it to the next level by learning how to use it in first inversion.

(Despite the 'scary' names, it's actually easier to make music with this chord when it is in first inversion.)

All is explained in this other video:

Have fun!

Tommaso Zillio is a professional prog rock/metal guitarist and composer based in Edmonton, AB, Canada.

Tommaso is currently working on an instrumental CD, and an instructional series on fretboard visualization and exotic scales. He is your go-to guy for any and all music theory-related questions.

Tommaso Zillio