Play Cdim3 shapes
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12 diagrams · 12 playable
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Anatomy
Diminished Chord Formula
The 3 scale degrees that form every diminished chord — in any key.
I
Root0 st
♭III
Minor 3rd+3 st
♭V
Diminished 5th+6 st
A diminished triad is a minor chord with the 5th flattened by one semitone. That leaves two minor 3rds stacked on top of each other and a tritone between the outer notes — the least stable interval in Western harmony. Nothing in the chord is a perfect interval, so there is nowhere for the ear to settle, and the chord is heard as needing to move rather than as somewhere to arrive.
Applied to C: C (root) – E♭ (minor 3rd) – G♭ (diminished 5th). Applied to B: B – D – F. Applied to A: A – C – E♭.
About this tool
About Diminished Chords on Guitar
The diminished chord — written with "dim" or a small circle after the root letter, as in Cdim or C° — is a three-note chord built from the root, the minor 3rd and the diminished 5th (formula 1 – ♭3 – ♭5). Start from a minor chord and lower the 5th by a single fret and you have it. That one semitone changes everything: the perfect 5th that holds a minor chord together becomes a tritone, the interval medieval theorists nicknamed the devil in music, and the chord loses any sense of rest. This is why a diminished chord is nearly always a passing chord rather than a destination. It appears naturally on the 7th degree of every major scale and the 2nd degree of every natural minor scale, and guitarists most often meet it walking chromatically between two chords a whole step apart — the classic move from a chord up a half step into the next one. The main shape here has its root on the A string and no open strings, so it slides to all 12 roots without changing fingering. Every root also gets two compact three-note triads on adjacent strings, which are what you want when the chord has to sit above a bass note or move through a solo. Do not confuse the triad with the diminished 7th: dim7 adds a fourth note on top, and chord charts routinely print "dim" when they mean "dim7".
- 01Built from 3 notes: root, minor 3rd, and diminished 5th (formula 1 – ♭3 – ♭5)
- 02A minor triad with the 5th flattened by one semitone
- 03Written with "dim" or a degree sign: Cdim, C°
- 04Two minor 3rds stacked, with a tritone between the outer notes
- 05The A-string root shape has no open strings, so one fingering covers all 12 roots
- 06Two extra three-note triads per root on the D-G-B and G-B-e string sets
- 07Occurs on the 7th degree of the major scale and the 2nd of the natural minor
- 08Usually a passing chord between two stable chords, not a resting point
- 09Distinct from a diminished 7th (dim7), which adds a fourth note on top
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