Guitar Lesson: Diminished Scale Concepts

posted by Warren Greig

Guitar Jar contributor and jazz guitarist Warren Greig expands on his previous diminished guitar scale lesson by expanding deeper into diminished scale concepts.

The diminished scale (whole step – half step) has four names but can also be applied to four 7b9 chords.
In the chart below the diminished scales are noted that can be applied to Db dim 7th, E dim 7th, Gdim 7th and Bbdim 7th. If you refer to the second line you will see that this same scale can be applied to C7b9, Eb7b9, Gb7b9 and A7b9. The rules of the diminished are different than major and minor and there are no real avoid notes which opens up a lot of possibilities.

In terms of organizing these eight note scales and designing a practise routine it is helpful if you can spell a diminished 7th arpeggio of any of the 12 notes in the chromatic scale. As you can see each of the rows below spell out a diminished 7th arpeggio if you read left to right. So if you are playing a Db diminished scale and want to apply to the four 7b9 applications go a semi tone below any of the four chord tones of Db diminished 7 and spell a diminished 7th arpeggio. ( answer C dim 7) Each of the chord tones of this arpeggio will give you the names of the four 7b9 applications.

Remember each of the diminished chords invert perfectly so it could be any of the columns that provide the name of the diminished 7th chord. E diminished 7th is the same scale as it was for Db diminished.

A Practise Routine for 24 Diminished Applications for Two Different Contexts:

	Db dim		E dim		G dim		Bb dim
C7 b9		Eb7b9		Gb7b9		A7b9
	D dim		F dim		Ab dim		B dim
Db7b9		E7b9		G7b9		Bb7b9
	Eb dim		Gb dim		A dim		C dim
D7b9		F7b9		Ab7b9		B7b9

The above noted chart provides a practise routine for 24 diminished applications for two different contexts, playing over a diminished 7th chord and playing over a 7b9 chord. The 7b9 applications usually resolve to a major chord not minor.