Diminished Chords

This diminished chords list is designed to help you learn these piano chords which are a staple of piano composition. Use these chord images to learn the chords and the fingerings. (Beethoven loved these chords.  You will find them in tons of his great pieces.)

To improve your piano skills and increase your knowledge, learn the shape of each chord as a picture, or image, in your mind, but also as a physical shape under your fingers.

With all of these piano chords, shapes and images are the key to developing mastery. Once you know all of the shapes and images, play through the chords using different groupings and different paths (ascending and descending in half-steps, or playing around the circle of 4ths, for instance), as well as using solid “blocked” versions of the chords and arpeggiated (rolled) versions.

Use a metronome to develop steadiness and evenness and speed.

You can add a huge boost to your piano skills by following up your practice on these chords with practicing arpeggios on the same chords.  Arpeggios force your hands and mind to learn how to spot the chords all the way up and down the keyboard.  This will help tremendously with building stronger and more confident keyboard awareness.  You will find chords in arpeggiated patterns throughout the piano music of all levels.

[By learning and mastering all of the diminished triads, along with the major and minor triads, and the basic 7th chords, your piano skills will expand greatly. Chords and scales are the building-blocks of western music. So become familiar with as many chords and scales as you can and your piano-playing abilities, as well as your understanding of the music you are learning, will continually grow. The more chords and scales you have mastered, the more you will feel confident and comfortable at the piano, the more difficult and diverse the music you can handle. Essentially, with more and more chords and scales comes more and more piano mastery. So learn them in all their forms: root position, inversions, arpeggios, patterns, hands-sparately, hands-together. The A piano chords are just one little piece of the huge chords-and-scales picture. You'll want to apply due diligence to them as well as all the other basic chords and scales. If you do, you will be a happier, more confident piano player. Good luck!]

Here are the diminished chords:

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-click here for more about diminished chords-

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