Building And Resolving Diminished 7th Chords Cheat Sheet printable pdf download

Building And Resolving Diminished 7th Chords Cheat Sheet

Building and Resolving Diminished 7th Chords

Cheat Sheet

A vii°7 chord is made up entirely of stacked minor 3rds. It is not found naturally

in a major key (an accidental must be added). It is found naturally in a minor

key when built on the raised 7th scale degree.

vii¯7

chord is made up of a m3+m3+M3, and is found naturally when built on

the 7th scale degree of a major key or the second scale degree of a minor key.

Both of these chords can be used as a substitute for the dominant.

(notice how there is only one note difference between V and vii°7...that's why they are

good substitutes)

Piano

vii¯7

vii¯6 %

vii¯4 £

vii¯4 "

vii°7

vii°6 %

vii°4 £

vii°4 "

To resolve a diminished 7th chord, the leading tone (which is the root) must resolve

up. The rest of the chord members resolve down. There is a little ﬂexibility with

the third of the chord to resolve up if needed.

Be careful with half-diminished - you

can end up with parallel ﬁfths. If you have

a ﬁfth between the 3rd and 7th, resolve

the 3rd up to avoid it.

Leading tone up, everything else down.

Pno.

vii¯7

vii°6 %

Db:

Building And Resolving Diminished 7th Chords Cheat Sheet