What is a diminished triad? Structure and features

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Such a concept as a tonic triad became known to us after the appearance of major and minor scales. These are simple chords consisting of three notes, which should include a minor and a major third. But in musical practice, such a phenomenon as a reduced triad is often encountered. What does it mean and how does it sound? Is it built within the gamut that we are used to?

What is this?

So, let's start with the major triad. This is a combination of two thirds - a large one in the first place and a small one in the second. The raised third degree, characteristic of the major scale, gives the triad a positive, bright and cheerful sounding tone.

Hand in hand with him goes a minor triad. This is a combination of a small third in the first place and a large third in the second. The third step turns out to be understated, due to which the sound acquires a melancholic and gloomy character. But a diminished triad is a combination of two small thirds; not only the third degree, but also the fifth is lowered in it. soundit turns out sharp, gloomy, strange and simply unstable. That is why such a chord, written within a certain scale, requires an indispensable conversion to the tonic. But more on that later.

Major Scale

This scale can be natural, harmonic and melodic. We will leave the last option, since here the steps change only when the scale moves down, and we will deal with the first two frets:

1. Natural. The diminished triad in major, which belongs to this category, is built exclusively on the 7th degree. If we consider everything using the example of "C major", then we get a chord that includes the notes H + D + F ("si", "d" and "fa"). There is a minor third between "si" and "re", as well as between "re" and "fa".
2. Harmonic. It is characterized by a lowered sixth step, thanks to which we can now build a reduced triad not only on the VII step, but also on the II. In "C major" these will be the notes "D", "F" and "A-flat".

Minor scale

Here the picture is exactly the same - there is natural, harmonic and melodic minor. As before, we will leave the last option, because here the VI and VII steps increase only when moving up:

• Natural. The starting point for a diminished triad in minor is the 2nd degree. If this is "A-minor", then as in the parallel to it"C major" we build a chord from the note "si".
• Harmonic. It is famous for its seventh raised step, and it is on it that the diminished triad is built. Within the framework of "A-minor" it turns out "G-sharp" + "B" + "D".

Appeals

This topic is simple from a theoretical point of view, but in practice, the chords sound very interesting, although they are sharp. The inversion of a diminished triad, like any other, is carried out by moving the lower note up an octave. So we get first the third quarter chord, and then the quarter chord. However, when inverted, small thirds form not pure fourths, tritons - reduced fifths or increased fourths. As a result, the sound is quite sharp and unstable, but at the same time interesting and non-standard.

Permission

Like all the restlessness in music, this chord, built on the unstable steps of the fret (sorry for the tautology), requires resolution - that is, the transition to a more stable sound. For each subspecies of the diminished chord, it has its own:

1. A triad built on the 7th degree of a major or the 2nd degree of a minor turns into a tonic third on the first step and the third, respectively, with a doubling of the lower sound.
2. The third quarter chord in major turns into a tonic third quarter chord, and in minor - into a third from the third and fifth steps, with a doubling of the lower sound.
3. A quarter-chord within a major turns into a fourth between the fifth and first steps, and doubling the top sound, andif we are in a minor, then the transition is carried out in the tonic minor third with a doubling of the lower sound.

The Miracle of Augmented Chords

As we have already found out, dissonances that can be built both within the framework of harmonic modes and within natural ones are diminished triads. Their enlarged analogues can also be present in scales, but only under the condition of a melodic structure. This chord has an extremely stable sound, a little surreal, magical, alien. Often used in writing fantastic music. So, the triad consists of two major thirds and this is how it is built:

• Harmonic major - on the VI reduced. In "C-major" - these are the notes "A-flat" + "C" + "Mi".
• Harmonic minor - on the III step. Within the framework of "A-minor" it will be "C" + "E" + "G-sharp" - that is, the seventh raised.