diminished chord!!!

[playhear]

I think the diminished chord in shouting music or preaching chords is the most "churchy"

Example Key of C:

E/D,G,Ab,C
F/Eb,G,A,C
F#/Eb,F#,A,C  This is the chord I'm talking about
G/ C7

To anybody,

Do you use that diminished chord only during shouting and preaching?  Or do you also use it during other times like worship?

[elio]

I use it all the time during worship music. Examples:
- to go from 4 to 5 I can play the b5 dim. Sounds quite strong and churchy, but if you do it nicely it can sound sweet.
- to go from 5 to min6 I can play the b6 dim (similar thing, the b6 dim is a bit less harsh than the b5dim)
- to go from 1 to min2 you can play a 1->b7dim->6dom7->min2
- etc.

Also, note that the dom7b9 chord is a diminished chord in disguise. Take D7b9, you can play it as DA/CEbF#A. So your LH is playing a D shell, and your RH is playing a Cdim.

In general, I use a lot the resolution you get by lowering one of the tones of the diminished chord, which takes you to a dom7 chord (diverse379 posted something about that a few weeks ago)

Let me know if you want me to break down one of the examples above.

Peace

[elio]

Sorry, I must have misread your original question - yes I do use it in that way (as I said in the previous post), ie to go from 4 to 5.
Well, hope that the other examples I gave are useful to someone....

[playhear]

I use it all the time during worship music. Examples:
- to go from 4 to 5 I can play the b5 dim. Sounds quite strong and churchy, but if you do it nicely it can sound sweet.
- to go from 5 to min6 I can play the b6 dim (similar thing, the b6 dim is a bit less harsh than the b5dim)
- to go from 1 to min2 you can play a 1->b7dim->6dom7->min2
- etc.

Good examples, you said "etc."  Please continue in that manner if you have more, thanks. (You don't need to break it down; I'd just like more examples if you have more.)

[playhear]

- to go from 1 to min2 you can play a 1->b7dim->6dom7->min2

Elio, instead of this progression, would you ever do 1->b2min dim->2min?

I haven't tried your progression yet.  I'm just wondering because your progression that I quoted is quite different than the other progressions you wrote.

[T-Block]

Do you use that diminished chord only during shouting and preaching?  Or do you also use it during other times like worship?

I also use diminished chords as passing chords when I am going from 3-6 or 6-2.  Example:

Key C  LH/RH

E / B-E-G# (3)  *secondary dominant: minor 3 turnd into a major 3
F# / C-D#-F#-A  *diminished passing chord
G# / D-F-G#-B   *diminished passing chord
A / E-A-C (6)   *regular minor 6

A / E-A-C# (6)   *secondary dominant: minor 6 turnd into a major 6
B / F-G#-B-D   *diminished passing chord
C# / G-A#-C#-E   *diminished passing chord
D / A-D-F (2)   *regular minor 2

I use diminished chords during worship music, praise music, talk music, whenever I feel the need to use them.

[elio]

Elio, instead of this progression, would you ever do 1->b2min dim->2min?

I haven't tried your progression yet.  I'm just wondering because your progression that I quoted is quite different than the other progressions you wrote.

I do that quite often. Just, out of laziness, I often tend to drop one of the notes of the diminished.
Something like
CG/CEG (C - 1st degree)
C#/C#EG (I think of if as a rootless Adom7 because I dropped the Bb from the C#dim. You could also spell this as a C#minb5)
DA/DFA (Dmin - 2nd degree).

As I said in another post, check out Aaron Lindsey in the "Alive in SA" and "Live from Another Level" songbooks - he uses this stuff all over the place.

[sjonathan02]

I think Donald Lawrence also does alot of this type of movement in his songs, especially his worship stuff.

[playhear]

Thanks guys!

After all this time, I've finally nailed the fundamentals of diminished chords, better late than never.