augmented and diminished

[steve]

how do I construct a augmented/dimished chord???

[cyberfret]

Augmented - 1 3 #5
Diminished - 1 b3 b5 (these are not common on the guitar)
Diminished 7 - 1 b3 b5 bb7(double flat 7 can also be thought of as 6) ...this is a more common diminished chord on the guitar.

--Shawn

[Andrew]

The formula for a diminished chord is - 1 b3 b5 bb7

So in C the notes would be - C Eb Gb Bbb(A)

You would play it like this with the root on the 4th string -

|----------11----------| b3
|----------10----------| bb7
|----------11----------| b5
|----------10----------| 1
|-----------------------|
|-----------------------|

The beauty of diminished and augmented chords is that they are symetrical, so any note could be seen as the root. This means you could play this at the 1st, 4th, 7th, 11th etc frets and it would still be a C dim chord. It also means that any C dim chord could also be Eb dim, Gb dim or A dim.

The formula for aug is -1 3 #5

|------------8----------| 1
|------------9----------| #5
|------------9----------| #3
|-----------10---------| 1
|-----------------------|
|-----------------------|

[steve]

Thanks alot

[Coffee]

Another thing to remember on these chords (or any chord being played on the first four strings) is if you need a voicing with a lower bass, simply move the 1 string note back to the sixth string, and mute string 5 and don't play string 1. You have the same chord with a bass note.