


The most common form of the diminished seventh chord is that rooted on the leading tone – for example, in the key of C, the chord (B–D–F–A ♭) – so its other constituents are the, , and ♭ (flat submediant) scale degrees. A vii o 7 chord in the minor key (for example, in C minor, B ♮–D–F–A ♭) occurs naturally in the harmonic minor scale and is equivalent to the dominant 7 ♭9 chord (G–B–D–F–A ♭) without its root.ĭiminished seventh chord resolution: both diminished fifths tend to resolve inward, doubling the third of the tonic chord The other method is to analyze the chord as an "incomplete dominant ninth", that is a ninth chord with its root on the dominant, whose root is missing or implied. The less complex method treats the leading tone as the root of the chord and the other chord members as the third, fifth, and seventh of the chord, the same way other seventh chords are analyzed. Currently, two approaches are generally used. Music theorists have struggled over the centuries to explain the meaning and function of diminished seventh chords. In most sheet music books, the notation Cdim or C o denotes a diminished seventh chord with root C but it may also happen, mostly in modern jazz books and some music theory literature, that Cdim or C o denotes a diminished triad (more commonly denoted Cm ♭5), while Cdim 7 or C o 7 in these books denotes a diminished seventh chord (corresponding to Cm 6 ♭5).įrançois-Joseph Fétis tuned the chord 10:12:14:17 ( 17-limit tuning). It typically has dominant function and contains two diminished fifths, which often resolve inwards. The diminished seventh chord occurs as a leading-tone seventh chord in the harmonic minor scale. Since a diminished seventh interval is enharmonically equivalent to a major sixth, the chord is enharmonically equivalent to (1, ♭3, ♭5, ♮6). Because of this, it can also be viewed as four notes all stacked in intervals of a minor third and can be represented by the integer notation. You can download the audio file.Īs such, a diminished seventh chord comprises a diminished triad plus a diminished seventh. Audio playback is not supported in your browser.
