jpfeifer
August 24th, 2009, 05:21 PM
I've been working on some of those weak areas in my soloing skills, going after some of the chord types that always seem to break my stride when I'm in the middle of a solo. For me, one of those chords has always been the diminished chord.
Diminished chords aren't all that hard to nail down, using a diminished arpeggio, but this has never really felt natural to me. (I've always had to think ahead when these dim chords come up, rather than just react to it in a natural way.) This usually makes me hesitate and stop the flow.
I've found a much better way think of these diminished chords so that they're much easier to handle (just requires thinking of them in a new way).
I run into diminished chords most often 1/2 step away (almost aways moving up) from a major chord. Countless blues progressions use this progression where they go to the IV chord, then a dim chord 1/2 step up form the IV chord, then to the V chord, and so on.
Here's the key thing that helped me to get a better handle on it.
- quit thinking of the diminished chord as an isolated chord
- instead, think of the dimished chord as an alteration of the chord just before it (specifically, the diminished chord is nothing more than adding the b7th and b9 to the chord 1/2 step lower)
Here's an example:
Let's say your cruising along in blues solo in G, when all of the sudden the band stops and plays C, C#dim, to D7. To make matters worse, these chords are often left wide open, where the band just hits the first beat only, to allow the soloist to stretch out. If you don't have your diminished runs under your fingers it can be a little scary. Here's how to handle it smoothly.
- Over the C chord, just do your normal C major chord stuff, or C mixolydian
- Over the C#dim, just pretend the chord changed to C7 with a b9
Sometimes it works fine even if you don't throw in the b9, depending on which notes you sit on. By doing a C7 arpeggio with a b9 you're just playing the diminished arpeggio anyway. (it's just another way to visualize it)
This mental trick helped to smooth out my ideas so that I didn't have to make a mental note of where to start my diminished scale, etc. I just have to be aware of "when" the diminished chords happen and start accenting the dom7 and b9 version of the chord I'd just played over.
I hope this helps other people who are trying to crack the dimished chord and make it sound smooth when you solo over it.
-- Jim
Diminished chords aren't all that hard to nail down, using a diminished arpeggio, but this has never really felt natural to me. (I've always had to think ahead when these dim chords come up, rather than just react to it in a natural way.) This usually makes me hesitate and stop the flow.
I've found a much better way think of these diminished chords so that they're much easier to handle (just requires thinking of them in a new way).
I run into diminished chords most often 1/2 step away (almost aways moving up) from a major chord. Countless blues progressions use this progression where they go to the IV chord, then a dim chord 1/2 step up form the IV chord, then to the V chord, and so on.
Here's the key thing that helped me to get a better handle on it.
- quit thinking of the diminished chord as an isolated chord
- instead, think of the dimished chord as an alteration of the chord just before it (specifically, the diminished chord is nothing more than adding the b7th and b9 to the chord 1/2 step lower)
Here's an example:
Let's say your cruising along in blues solo in G, when all of the sudden the band stops and plays C, C#dim, to D7. To make matters worse, these chords are often left wide open, where the band just hits the first beat only, to allow the soloist to stretch out. If you don't have your diminished runs under your fingers it can be a little scary. Here's how to handle it smoothly.
- Over the C chord, just do your normal C major chord stuff, or C mixolydian
- Over the C#dim, just pretend the chord changed to C7 with a b9
Sometimes it works fine even if you don't throw in the b9, depending on which notes you sit on. By doing a C7 arpeggio with a b9 you're just playing the diminished arpeggio anyway. (it's just another way to visualize it)
This mental trick helped to smooth out my ideas so that I didn't have to make a mental note of where to start my diminished scale, etc. I just have to be aware of "when" the diminished chords happen and start accenting the dom7 and b9 version of the chord I'd just played over.
I hope this helps other people who are trying to crack the dimished chord and make it sound smooth when you solo over it.
-- Jim