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The C#dim-chord
Find chord shapes
Go to the dim chord page for general information on the dim chord.
C#dim has the notes C#-E-G.
In diatonic contexts, you will meet the C#dim as the VIIdim chord in the key D-major.
It is more likely that you will meet the C#dim triad as part of the A7 chord, than as a pure C#dim chord. C#dim can be seen as A7 with the root omitted, and you will sometimes see chords labeled A7 that really are C#dim.
You can also meet the C#dim as the IIdim chord in B-minor. This holds for natural minor, harmonic minor and descending melodic minor. In ascending melodic minor, the sixth is raised one half step, and the diatonic II chord would be a major chord. In B-minor it would be C#. In harmonic minor and ascending melodic minor, we will also meet the dim chord as VIIdim. We can have C#dim as VIIdim in D-minor. But again we will probably meet the triad as part of a 7th chord, which would be A7.
Some general comments on chord-voicings and
fingerings.
Too many guitarists think of chords as ways to place the fingers,
and not as a way to get good sounding harmonies. If you are just strumming the
chords, open chord voicings where you play all or almost all strings may be a
good choice. To get access to more chords, you supplement with
barré-chords. For rhythm guitar, particulary electric rhythm guitar,
barré chords will often be a better choice left-hand damping is easier.
But still you need to know how to play one chord in more than one position, to
facilitate smooth chord changes. (You do not want to jump up and down between
3rd and 10th every time you chage a chord. Three-, four and five note voicings
may not work very well in this context. You have to be very precise with your
picking hand and/or be able to damp out the strings you do not want to play,and
it requires som control. Skip-string voicings requirese precise damping, and
are generally not a good choice.
If you are playing solos and chords, you should always know how to
play the chord you are soloing over, close to where you are playing the solo.
It makes it easier to get home if you are about to get lost in a solo. For more
sophisticated fingerpicking, chord soloing and bass-line + chord style playing,
it is crucial to know may chords. You should be able to play the right chord
over any bass-note played anywhere on the neck, or you should be able to play
the melody on top of any seqence of chords. The good chord-soloists play
bass-lline, chords and melody – and they even improvise in that style. For
this playing you need to know how to voice the chord with the right bass-note
at the bottom and the right melody-note on top, without compromizing a
sophisticated harmonic structure. Then the skip-string voicings maight become
very handy, in addition to the other chords.
If you find some of the fingerings too difficult (they are all
playable – I have tried all chords on these pages), go here
for some tips on how to work your way around the problems.
| Open chord fingerings |
| Even though you may play a few open
strings, there are really no open fingerings for dim-chords |
Closed
positions
For the diminished triads, I do not separate the
adjacent string voicings and the skip-string voicings. |
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Here you might ask about the chord to the left: What is
the point? This is an A7 chord, so why mess everything up and make it
difficult by calling it C#dim? The point is that this really illustrates
the relation between the two chords. Play the open 5th string with the
C#dim, and it becomes A7.
Compare with the chords up at 12th
fret. |
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| Voicing: 3b-5b-1 |
Voicing: 1-3b-5b |
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| Voicing: 5b-1-3b |
Voicing: 1-3b-5b |
Voicing: 3b-1-5b |
Voicing: 5b-1-3b-1 |
Voicing: 1-3b-1-5b |
| The two building blocks in
these chord positions are the D-minor
shape and the A7-shape. From there you should also see the
relationship with the 7th chord. The C#dim is contained in the
A7 chord. |
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| Voicing: 1-3b-5b |
Voicing: 5b- 1-3b |
Voicing: 1-5b- 1-3b |
Voicing: 3b-5b- 1-3b |
Voicing: 3b-5b- 1-3b |
Voicing: 3b-5b- 1 |
| This is the basic Root position diminished
triad on 3rd, 2nd and 1st string. |
This is a well known chord shape - the D-shape
in a not so well known position. Listen to and take a look at Robert
Johnson's Kind Hearted Woman Blues for an example where this chord is
used very nicely in combination with a major chord one fret above. (The song is
in A-major, and the chords are A and Cdim). |
The next four chords are built around the
D-shape
or a partial D-shape. |
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| Voicing: 3b-1-5b |
Voicing: 3b-1-5b |
| Voicing: 1-3b-5b |
You can recognize this as an
E7-shape. The second has an added root note on the 1st string. The root
on the 6th string in the first and on the 6th string in the third chord in this
group, connects to the chords in the next position up the neck. The last chord
gives a partial D7-shape
on 1st and 2nd string, a position to build from further up the neck. |
| This is the basic Root position diminished
triad on 6th, 5th and 4th string. |
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| Voicing: 3b-5b-1 |
Voicing: 1-3b-5b-1 |
Voicing: 1-3b-5b |
| The first two chords are the D7-shape.
When you finger only these three notes, you drop the root from the 7th
chord, and ends up with the diminished triad. |
It is still the basic D7-shape,
but in the first we have added the root on the 6th string, and in the second we
have dropped the root on the 1st string. |
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| Voicing: 1-5b-3b |
Voicing: 5b-1-3b |
Voicing: 1-5b-1-3b |
Voicing: 3b-5b-1-3b |
| This shape is connecting to the D7-shape
based chord on the frets below. |
You should recognize this as the D-minor
shape. |
These are the two previous chords
combined, and given with two different fingerings. |
You should see how this is built from a D-minor
shape, but is climbing up the neck. |
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| Voicing: 3b-5b-1 |
Voicing: 3b-5b-1-5b |
Voicing: 3b-1-5b |
| This is based on what I have called the Middle
D-shape. You should see how it connects to the chords one fret
below. |
Here we have just added another 5bth. |
These chords are very often used as
7th without roots in Freddie
Green style jazz comping. |
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| Voicing: 3b-5b-1 |
Voicing: 5b-1-3b |
Voicing: 3b-5b-1-3b |
| The first group of chords are built from the sonic
shapes Top
Triangle and Bottom
Triangle, and then they are combined. You should also see the
relationship with the A7-shape. Then the next chord is once again the
Root position diminished triad, which shows the connections further up
the neck. |
Voicing: 1-3b-5b |
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