The Most Versatile Chord
There are so many chords to choose from when writing music. Some may even say an overwhelming amount. Each one feels somewhat unique but is also impacted by the context it’s used in. So what do I mean when I say “versatile”? For me it’s a chord which can be used in many settings but also can operate in many different ways musically. For example, I wouldn’t say the major chord is that versatile as it generally gives a resolved feeling and is so strongly associated with the I or IV chord that it can’t really feel functionally ambiguous in music. Of course there are exceptions to this, but in the grand scheme of Western music it very much operates in the same capacity from piece to piece, so much so that we often perceive it that way regardless of the context. When I think of a versatile chord, the sound has to be somewhat of a chameleon with the ability to take the music in any direction. Something that may not necessarily feel resolved and could be interpreted in a number of different ways. To me that chord is the diminished chord.
Like so many people who have come through some kind of high school music class, I was introduced to the diminished sound in comparison to the more common major and minor triads. Immediately it sounded overly dissonant to my ears, and in reality I had no clue why anyone would want to use it other than for aural skills tests. I seldom would see the chord symbol in the music I played and it very much seemed like it was the most redundant of all chords (right next to the augmented triad). However, that all changed once I started to explore non-diatonic music.
As I progressed through university, I was introduced to the diminished scale, an eight note beast which I didn’t see the potential in to begin with. Through various jazz harmony classes I eventually saw how the 1/2W diminished scale could spell a lot of different chords, but it wasn’t until one morning when I stepped into a class with Rich DeRosa where I was enlightened to just how versatile the diminished chord itself could be. In the class Rich picked apart an impressionist composition by Chopin, specifically isolating moments where the diminished chord was used as a conduit between keys. Due to the ambiguous nature of the diminished scale, whenever Chopin used a diminished triad it allowed the music to change directions to new keys instantly but without the feeling of an abrupt modulation. It was unlike anything I had ever heard and opened my eyes to the potential of the simple diminished chord.
After spending a bit of time inspecting the potential options available, I realized that the diminished chord could be interpreted in so many different ways. Due to it naturally occurring in both major and minor scales, as well as the options made available due to the notes in the diminished scale itself, it became apparent that the diminished chord could almost resolve anywhere and feel justified. While this was new to me, it was also not lost that Chopin had worked this out more than a century earlier and it had also been adapted in various capacities in jazz during the 20th century. So let’s take a closer look at how the diminished triad can be used.
If you’re familiar with the chords of the major and minor scales, you’ll know that the diminished triad naturally occurs on the 7th degree of a major and minor scale as well as on the 2nd degree of a minor scale. Within this context the chord is quite limited and purely operates as a sense of tension which wants to resolve and is mainly thought of as a slightly more restricted V chord. However, once we expand to looking at non-diatonic options such as the diminished scale, we increase the amount of ways we can interpret the chord and also increase the places it can resolve to.
Within both variants of the diminished scale (1/2W and W1/2), the diminished triad occurs symmetrically in intervals of a m3 from the starting note. This information alone doesn’t necessarily give us much to work from but once we look at the other chord sounds found in the diminished scale you’ll see how this opens up a few more pathways. While it is easy to think of the diminished scales as purely built to serve the diminished chord, they do house other chords within them. For example, in the 1/2W variant you can build multiple different chords off of the first note. Using a C 1/2W scale (C Db Eb E F# G A Bb) you could have Cdim (C Eb Gb), Cmaj (C E G), and Cmin (C Eb G) options. If you extend these triads to include a 7th you get a few more options including Cfulldim (C Eb Gb A), Chalfdim (C Eb Gb Bb), C7 (C E G Bb), and Cmin7 (C Eb G Bb). As all of these sounds are within the same diminished scale, you can effortlessly move between them in a similar way to how you might move between the diatonic chords of C major.
Stepping back a second, as we established earlier the diminished scale is a symmetrical scale which means that all of these triad and 7th options exist in m3 intervals from the root. That means each of those chord types can be found starting on C, Eb, Gb, and A, giving us a myriad of different chord options.
Here is where the magic happens. As it feels somewhat normal to move through these chords given the context of the diminished scale, we can transplant that interpretation anywhere we use a diminished chord. Now it means a diminished chord doesn’t just feel like a 7th or 2nd degree of a major/minor scale, but also can feel okay as a pivot chord into any of the other chords found in the diminished scale. For example, Cdim can now resolve to Cmaj, Cmin, and C7, but also any of the symmetrical options in the scale too, such as Ebmaj, Ebmin, Eb7, Gbmaj, Gbmin, Gb7, Amaj, Amin, and A7. When you look at all of the potential keys those chords can be associated with, it means that the diminished chord really can move to just about anywhere and it will feel justified.
While I don’t make as much use of the diminished chord these days as maybe I once anticipated, it’s a wonderful technique to have available when needed. Thanks for checking out another newsletter entry. Covering another non-diatonic harmony technique felt right today but who knows what next week will bring. Only time will tell.
Until next time,
Toshi