Hey Friend,
While I was cruisin’ the inter-webs yesterday, I came across something that I have neither seen nor heard before - a half-diminished 7th chord. I was like…
Yeah, so it appears there is not only the diminished 7th chord we talked about, but all a chord called a half-diminished 7th. I can say with 99.99% certainty that you will almost never see one of these in Rock, Blues or Country!
Jazz is a different animal, so that’s where one of these wild beasts would usually occur. I’m only throwing this out so you can be better informed than I’ve been for the last 40 years of guitar playing.
I guess I shouldn’t be too hard on myself. After all, most of the time, theory is taught on piano, not guitar. The keyboard layout makes it extremely easy to not only visualize concepts, but to apply them as well.
You see, I was hunting for common problems you might have when trying to play 7th chords. I wondered if anyone might have compiled teaching tips, but came up a bit short.
I then found this rabbit hole to go down...
Once I found the half-diminished thing, I started questioning what I had told you about diminished 7th chords. As I dug deeper, I got more confused, not less.
I even tried putting an exercise together to demonstrate the difference between the two, but in the end, I realized I had come up against one of those concepts I’m going to have to revisit a few times before it starts making any sense to me.
For the time being, hang tight with the Dim7 chords I’ve shown you (I don’t think anyone is going to call you out on them). As long as you know these are normally notated as minor 7th with a flat 5 like this - Cm7(b5) - you should be okay.
I know I’ve mentioned this before:
The reason I repeat things so often is not because I’ve run out of things to teach you. Repetition is the only way to learn and master most musical endeavors.
As you can see, I don’t just read something and immediately understand it. I’m going to have to come back to this diminished 7th/half-diminished 7th study a few times before I get a handle on it.
For now, I’m throwing the exercise out. If you want to read more about these wily 7th chords, checked out the article Working With 7th Chords. Listen to the audios to get a sense of the sound difference between the diminished and half diminished 7th chords. Like I said, you’re not going to need these chords anytime soon (if ever!). Just be aware that there are still many secrets for us to uncover in music.
Have a great Saturday!
Peace~
Dave
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