Diminished chord

A chord built from a root, a minor third and a flattened fifth, with an unstable, tense quality that usually wants to resolve.

The flattened fifth is the note that makes a diminished chord sound unsettled, and because the chord is built from stacked minor thirds it repeats its shape every three frets, which makes it unusual on guitar: the same fingering can be moved up three frets and produce the same chord spelled from a different note. It appears diatonically on the seventh degree of a major key, where it pulls strongly back to the tonic, and it is a favourite device for transitional movement in blues and jazz.

Example: A chord containing a root, a minor third and a flattened fifth, such as B, D and F in the key of C, is diminished.

Diminished chord

See also