ArpeggiosEN

Arpeggio quality

dim7

The diminished seventh stacks four minor thirds, producing a fully symmetrical chord that repeats every three frets and can be respelled with any of its notes as the root. Its double-flat seventh is enharmonically the same pitch as the major sixth, so the chord sounds both dark and strangely open. It is the classic dramatic chord — silent-film tension, gypsy jazz turnarounds, classical sequences — and it resolves forcefully when any note moves up a half-step. Because of the symmetry, one shape covers four different chords. Listen for the four minor thirds and the way the whole structure seems to rotate rather than sit.

Formula
1 ♭3 ♭5 ♭♭7
Notes
C♯ E G B♭
Family
Augmented / Diminished

Notation in C♯

representative key
441♭3♭5♭♭7

Fretboard — frets 0–12

C♯ dim7 — frets 0 to 12, 27 notes, roots in orange♭3♭5♭♭71♭31♭3♭5♭♭7♭5♭♭71♭3♭5♭3♭5♭♭71♭♭71♭3♭5♭3♭5♭♭71♭30123456789101112
C♯ dim7 — frets 0 to 12, 27 notes, roots in orange♭3♭5♭♭71♭31♭3♭5♭♭7♭5♭♭71♭3♭5♭3♭5♭♭71♭♭71♭3♭5♭3♭5♭♭71♭30123456789101112

All 17 keys

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Same family

How to practise this arpeggio

  • Play the four minor thirds slowly and listen to the symmetry.
  • Resolve any note up a half-step and hear the chord collapse into a new one.
  • Move the shape up three frets and hear the same chord return.
  • Compare it with m7♭5 to hear the difference the double-flat seventh makes.