Diminished Chords

Let’s look at how to play a D flat diminished chord on the piano. We’ll also learn the pattern for building any other diminished chord.

What Are Diminished Chords?

Diminished chords are minor chords with the upper-note lowered 1/2 step.

So to build a diminished chord, we’ll start with a minor chord. To build a minor chord, we’ll build the matching major chord using the first, third and fifth notes of the matching major scale, and then we’ll lower the middle note 1/2 step.

Then to convert the minor chord into a diminished chord, we’ll lower the upper-note 1/2 step.

Chord Types Printable

Learn to play 17 types of piano chords using 12 different root notes with this 35-page PDF! Chords are sorted both by their root note and type.

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How to Play a D Flat Diminished Chord

So to build a D flat diminished chord, we’ll start by building a D flat minor chord. We can build a D flat minor chord by first building a D flat major chord using the first, third and fifth notes of the D flat major scale: D♭ – F – A♭

Then we’ll convert the D flat major chord into a D flat minor chord by lowering the middle note 1/2 step: D♭ – F♭ – A♭

Then to convert the D flat minor chord into a D flat diminished chord, we’ll lower the upper-note 1/2 step: A♭♭

You may be wondering why we would label this note as “A♭♭” instead of “G”. The reason is because we are building this chord using the notes of the D flat major scale. When we build a D flat major chord, we’re using the first, third and fifth notes of the D flat major scale. Then when we convert the major chord into a minor chord, we’re lowering the middle note of the scale 1/2 step. Then when we convert the minor chord into a diminished chord, we’re lowering the fifth note of the scale 1/2 step. So this is why the upper-note is labeled “A♭♭”.

So to play a D flat diminished chord, we’ll play:

D♭ – F♭ – A♭♭

We can use this pattern to build any other diminished chord. We’ll first build a major chord using the first, third and fifth notes of the matching major scale. Then we’ll convert the major chord into a minor chord by lowering the middle note 1/2 step. Then we’ll convert the minor chord into a diminished chord by lowering the upper-note 1/2 step.

Chord Symbols

Let’s look at the chord symbols for diminished chords. Chord symbols are abbreviations for chords, and there are several ways to indicate diminished chords.

One way to indicate diminished chords is by using the º symbol. So we could write a D flat diminished chord symbol as:

D♭º

Another way to indicate diminished chords is with the “dim” abbreviation. So we could also write a D flat diminished chord symbol as:

D♭dim

Other Chord Types

Some of the other chord types we can learn are:

Major
Minor
Augmented
Second
Minor Second
Suspended
Fifth
Sixth
Minor Sixth
Seventh
Minor Seventh
Major Seventh
Ninth
Minor Ninth
Major Ninth

Conclusion

Now you know how to play a D flat diminished chord on the piano, and you can use this knowledge to build any other diminished chord!

While diminished chords may not be as common as major and minor chords, it’s good to understand how to build them for when you need them. And chords are such a wonderful way to learn the piano and to enjoy music!