Diminshed and Augmented Chords

I found a couple of shapes for diminished and augmented chords today. For those of you that dont know what these are, they are chords made up of equal intervals.

A diminished chord is 1 – b3 – b5 – bb7. For example C Eb Gb A(Bbb). Each interval is a minor third.

An augmented chord is 1 – 3 – #5 e.g. C E G#. Each interval is a major third.

Because these chord types are symmetrical, i.e. they are made up of the same interval repeated, any of the notes in the chord can be considered the root.

So the diminished chord above can be C°, Eb°, Gb°, or A° (° = diminished). And the augmented chord can be any of C+, E+ or G#+ augmented (+ = augmented).

What’s the use of these chords?

Mainly substitutions for dominant 7 chords.

Diminished chords make great 7b9 chords. A G# diminished is a substitution for a G7b9.

How do you play them

Diminished, very easy strings 3 4 5 6 RKL

Augmented 3 4 5 6 A B RKL

I might go into substitutions more in another post but, try the chords out. Move the diminished ones around three frets at a time and the augmented ones four frets and see what they sound like.