Diminished 7th Chord Arpeggios (Advanced Arpeggios)
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We're going to talk about the diminished 7th arpeggio.
This one is good for dramatic licks, especially in sequences of 3 or 4 notes.
This is a symmetrical arpeggio. Like the augmented triad, the diminished 7th chord is created from an exactly even set of intervals. It is a stack of minor thirds. So there are only three diminished 7th chords and therefore only three diminished 7th arpeggios; each one contains four others.
Since we'll do this in F, we'll have an F dim7 arpeggio which has the notes F, Ab, B and D. It could also be thought of as an Ab diminished 7, a B diminished 7, or a D diminished 7.
Here's the root position F diminished 7 arpeggio.
And here's the first inversion F diminished 7 arpeggio.
Here's the second inversion F diminished arpeggio.
And here's the third inversion F diminished arpeggio.
So as you can see, they're all the same exact shape. That makes it easier to learn and get under your fingers.
Presented below are arpeggios for the diminished 7th chord.
These arpeggios are useful for resolving up or down by half step to any diatonic chord: for instance Cmaj7, C♯o7, D-7. That also works in reverse: A-7, A♭o7, G7. Try it!
The arpeggios are in single-position form (spanning more than two octaves), and all inversions are shown.
F Diminished 7th Arpeggio, Root Position
Can be played in position I or position XIII (as below).
F Diminished 7th Arpeggio, 1st Inversion
F Diminished 7th Arpeggio, 2nd Inversion
F Diminished 7th Arpeggio, 3rd Inversion
Key Tasks
- Practice this arpeggio over any of these diminished chords: Go7, B♭o7, D♭o7, Eo7.
- This arpeggio can also be used over any Dominant 7 ♭9 or Dominant 7 ♯9 chord, so long as one of its non-root chord tones are in the chord. For instance, A7♭9 has B♭ as its ♭9. Since B♭ is in this diminished 7th arpeggio, this diminished arpeggio can be used over that chord.
- Answer the question: how many total unique diminished 7th arpeggios are there?
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