Diminished Arpeggios

Welcome to this lesson on diminished arpeggios and how you can use the diminished arpeggio in your jazz playing. The diminished sound is common in both jazz and classical music. In this lesson we will be looking at the three note diminished triad arpeggio. It is important to note that there is also a four note diminished seventh arpeggio but we will cover that in another lesson. You can find a diminished arpeggio in the major scale, melodic minor and the harmonic minor scale. Jazz players have been using the sound of the diminished arpeggio for a very long time. The diminished arpeggio has a very strong sound harmonically and that makes it a very useful improvisational tool.

Let’s start by taking a look at the intervals of the diminished arpeggio. The diminished arpeggio has three notes, the root, flat third and flat fifth. We can represent the diminished arpeggio with intervals like this:

1, b3, b5

The great thing about the diminished arpeggio is that it is so versatile. You can use the diminished arpeggio in many situations such as playing over a m7b5 chord, playing over a dominant chord etc. The diminished arpeggio is made up from stacked minor thirds. For instance the C diminished arpeggio is made up of minor third intervals. The distance from C to Eb is a minor third and the distance between Eb and Gb is a minor third.

Here I have written out the diminished arpeggio in all 12 keys. You should take your time and get to know the diminished arpeggio sound fluently.

C Diminished Arpeggio

C Eb Gb

Db Diminished Arpeggio

Db E G

D Diminished Arpeggio

D F Ab

Eb Diminished Arpeggio

Eb Gb A

E Diminished Arpeggio

E G Bb

F Diminished Arpeggio

F Ab B

Gb Diminished Arpeggio

Gb A C

G Diminished Arpeggio

G Bb Db

Ab Diminished Arpeggio

Ab B D

A Diminished Arpeggio

A C Eb

Bb Diminished Arpeggio

Bb Db E

B Diminished Arpeggio

B D F

The diminished arpeggio is really handy for playing over minor 7b5 chords and also for playing over dominant 7b9 chords.