© Bluestronomical Publishing Inc. 2008

By Jackie Don Loe ~ Diminished Blues ~

Last month we looked at how to play a diminished 7 chord, this month we will explore a couple of ways to insert a diminished 7 chord into a twelve bar blues progression in the key of C. You can substitute a diminished 7 chord for the one chord (C) or the four chord (F). Lets begin with the first five bars of a twelve bar blues. 

The first example shows how to substitute an F#dim7 chord for the Fmin7 chord in the fourth bar. The second example shows how to substitute a Cdim7 for the one chord in bar two to help create some motion over the first three bars.


Ex.1)

Original Progression
C / / / | C7 / / / | F / / / | Fmin 7 / / / | C / / / |

Diminished Substitution
C / / / | C7 / / / | F / / / | F#dim7 / / / | C / / / |


Ex.2)

Original Progression
C / / / | C / / / | C / / / | C7 / / / | F / / / |

Diminished Substitution
C / / / | Cdim7 / / / | C / / / | C7 / / / | F / / / |


“Diminished Chord Substitutions”

* The numbers following the chord letter are where you fret your fingers on the string. If there is a "0" then the string is open, if there is an "x" then no note is played.

Enjoy, and always keep your ears open.

     - Jackie Don Loe -

Guitar Workshop Archive