How To Play Diminished Arpeggios On Guitar (+ How To Use Them)

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How To Play Diminished Arpeggios

How To Play Diminished Arpeggios

December 20, 2013

11 Comments

Dirk Laukens

Diminished arpeggios are an essential tool every

jazz guitar player should have under his/her belt +
they are relatively easy to play on the guitar because
of their symmetric formation.
Read on to learn how to play diminished arpeggios
on guitar and how to use it in a musical context.

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How is a Diminished Chord Formed?

A diminished chord (and arpeggio) consists of 4 different notes that are each a minor third (=3 half
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Heres the chord formula: 1 b3 b5 bb7

Example: Bb7 = Bb Db Fb G
(if chord formulas are Chinese to you, read our Chord Theory Tutorial)

3 interesting facts about diminished chords:

A diminished chord can be named after any of its 4 notes. The chord in the example above
can be named Bb7 or Db7 or E7 or G7. These 4 chords consist of the same 4 notes.
How many diminished chords are there? The answer is 3:
C7 = Eb7 = Gb7 = A7
C#7 = E7 = G7 = Bb7
D7 = F7 = Ab7 = B7
Every diminished fingering pattern on the guitar neck produces the same arpeggio every time
you move it 3 frets up or down. Heres an example for Bb7 (= Db7 = E7 = G7):

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How To Play Diminished Arpeggios On Guitar (+ How To Use Them)

25/12/13 10:30

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Basics

Like I said, remembering diminished arpeggio fingerings is relatively easy because you only have to
remember 3 shapes:
1) This is the first diminished arpeggio fingering for Bb7 = Db7 = E7 = G7. You get the same
arpeggio if you move this pattern 3 frets up or down, so you can start it on the 6th, the 9th, the 12th
or the 3rd fret, while still playing the same diminished arpeggio.

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2) The second diminished arpeggio fingering for Bb7 = Db7 = E7 = G7. Same as above: move
this pattern 3 frets up or down, start it on the 6th, the 9th, the 12th or the 3rd fret and youll still be
playing the same 4 notes.

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3) This 2 notes/string fingering pattern is very symmetrical, except for the b-string of course. Also
moveable by 3 frets!

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How To Play Diminished Arpeggios On Guitar (+ How To Use Them)

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How to Use Diminished Arpeggios

The most obvious use of a diminished arpeggio is playing it against a diminished chord that has the
same name. For example: playing a G7 arpeggio over a G7 chord.
Whats more interesting is that you can use diminished chords to play over dominant b9 chords.
The notes of a diminished chord are identical to the notes of the dominant b9 chord that is a
semitone lower.
For example: you can play Bb7 (Bb Db E G) over A7b9 (A C# E G Bb). Have a look at the notes of
both chords, starting the diminished chord on the Db (=C#) instead of the Bb:
A7b9: A C# E G Bb
Bb7:
C# E G Bb
Besides the root of the dominant chord (A), the notes are indentical.

To play over a dominant chord, you can either play a:

1) Diminished chord that is a semitone higher than the root of the dominant chord. Example:
over G7, play Ab7
2) Diminished chord that starts on the 3 (or 5 or b7) of the dominant chord. Example: over
G7, play B7 (=Ab7)

In the following example I play arpeggios over a 251 progression. Over the dominant chords, I only
play diminished arpeggios and youll hear how natural that sounds.

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How To Play Diminished Arpeggios On Guitar (+ How To Use Them)

25/12/13 10:30

Heres a backing track for your practice:

Some words:
Bar 1: Fmaj7 arpeggio over Dm, sounds like Dm9.
Bar 2: Ab7 arpeggio over G7. I use the 2-notes/string fingering, which is handy to change
position on the guitar neck.
Bar 3: Em7 arpeggio over Cmaj7, sounds like Cmaj9.
Bar 4: Bb7 arpeggio over A7.
Bar 5: Dm7 arpeggio.
Bar 6: Ab7 arpgeggio over G7.
Bar 7: Cmaj7 arpeggio with a chromatic note at the en.
Bar 8: Am7 arpeggio over C major, which sounds like C6.

Learn much more about diminished chords in our Premium Lessons:

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