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10DiminishedPatternsThatWillTransformYourNext
JazzSolo
PostedByEricOnApril8,2016@9:53amInChords,Concepts|CommentsDisabled

Whatcomestomindwhenyouheartheworddiminished?

Achord?Ascale?

Wait,isitwholestepsandhalfstepsortheotherwayaround?

Ifyourelikemostplayers,thediminishedsoundoftencreatesmorequestionsthan
answers

ButitsasoundthatthegreatestplayersfromJohnColtranetoMichaelBreckerand
beyondhaveusedtoaddharmoniccomplexityandmelodicinteresttotheirsolos.

Anditsonethatyoucanuseinyoursolosaswellifyouhavetheknowhow.

Yousee,thepremiseofadiminishedchordorpatternissimple,butwhenyoustart
applyingthissoundtoyoursolos,thedetailscangetcomplexveryquickly.

Andthisisexactlywhatweregoingtolookattoday
Stackingminorthirds
Beforewestartdiggingintothesediminishedpatterns,youneedtostartwithan
understandingthestructureofthediminishedchord.

Andluckilyitsprettystraightforward,afullydiminishedchordissimplyastackofminor
3rds

Becausetheconstructionofthesechordsissymmetrical,thereareonly3diminished
options:astackofminor3rdsfromC,fromC#,andfromD.Thatsitthepatternjust
repeatsitself.

Themostcommonwayyoullusethissoundinyoursolosisoverdominantchords.
ApplyingthisdiminishedstructureoveraV7soundisaneasywaytoaccessthealtered
notesofadominantchordinalogicalway.

Andagain,sincetheconstructionofthestructureissymmetricalyoucanapplythissound
toanydominantchordbuiltfromtherelatedchordtones:(C7,Eb7,F#7,A7)

WhicheverV7chordyouchoosetoapplyitto,youllalwayshighlighttheroot,#9,#11,
and13ofthatdominantchord.Forexample,ifyouplaythatF#fullydiminishedovera