Songs that use Diminished Chords
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- Опубліковано 3 чер 2024
- Diminished chords can be a little scary when you first encounter them. But once you get to know them, you realise that they are the glue that can give a chord progression that rich, cohesive texture.
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0:00 Introduction
0:47 "Bennie & The Jets" by Elton John
1:56 "Don't Look Back In Anger" by Oasis
2:43 "Georgia On My Mind" by Ray Charles
3:18 "All Star" by Smash Mouth
3:57 "My Iron Lung" by Radiohead
4:34 "when the party's over" by Billie Eilish
5:13 "Bridge Over Troubled Water" by Simon & Garfunkel
5:43 Line Clichés
6:29 "Life on Mars?" by David Bowie
6:40 "Your Song" by Elton John
6:59 the vii° chord
9:08 the ii° chord
10:51 diminished chords can resolve anywhere!
12:02 "Because" by The Beatles
13:13 Diminished 7th chords
15:38 "Love Is A Losing Game" by Amy Winehouse
16:03 "God Only Knows" by The Beach Boys
16:31 "We Are The Champions" by Queen
17:07 "Michelle" by The Beatles
17:31 dim7 chords can't be inverted!
18:17 ø7 chords (half-diminished chords)
18:37 "You Never Give Me Your Money" by The Beatles
19:20 "My Funny Valentine" by Rodgers & Hart
19:33 "Between The Sheets" by The Isley Brothers
19:43 a piece composed purely of diminished chords...
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How’d you comment this 30 minutes before the video came out?
Overture, This Jesus Must Die, and Trial By Pilate from Jesus Christ Superstar have really interesting uses of Dim chords too... I know your main focus is pop music and not really a lot of musical theater
In queen's "In the lap of the gods" they use a diminished chord in the chorus
Hi! There is a beautiful song from late 90's, from a brazillian band, called "Os cegos do castelo" (something like "the blind from the castle"), where most part of the music is I and viiº (C and Bº). Take a look at ua-cam.com/video/FMeyuDAR_BE/v-deo.html Oddly enough, it sounds very pleasant...
in the description, you listed the time stamp for the Billie Eilish song off by a minute
We should never diminish chords. They deserve our respect and esteem for their contribution to music. Don't diminish chords, praise them.
Augment them, even.
Give them extensions of praises.
Ко је разумео, схватиће.
Yeah shame on these music theorists. They even call some of these chords “dim” 😔
These chords are really good and should be augmented, but recent media has inverted their beauty which has made people dissonant towards them.
It’s incredibly helpful when Mr. Bennett shows an example, and then shows an alternate version of what it would sound like in another instance - In this case, what would happen if the chord wasn’t diminished.
He does this often in his videos, and I learn so much from it every time. Thank you for your time and your talent.
Totally steals my attention with that. He's brilliant.
Yes very well said! Those examples are such useful learning tools!
I agree! He is a great teacher. 👍
Agreed, it's among the best of his many great learning tools/tricks
I’m not getting Ben kidding that’s my orchestras directors last name, mrs Bennett, she even has her husband teaching jazz, which I’m in too 💀💀
My love and respect for the diminished chord has been sharply, augmented.
Hahaha
I’ll admit I snorted
I see what you did there
Ar ar ar ar…🥴😉
If you could take it down a notch, that'd be perfect.
I think one of the most useful and insightful things that David does in these videos is record and play the alternative. As in "They didn't have to do it this way, they could simply have done this..." What a considerate addition. Thanks for all your work!
The dim7 chord is really just three minor thirds in a trenchcoat
Named Vincent Majorchord
Also just a Dom7b9 you know :) One man's C# dim7 is another man's A7b9
@@ThePromptWizard2023 yessir
Haha that’s good 😂
It is also two interlocking tritones ready for modulation. :-)
I love the diminished chord in "youve got a friend in me", especially because its almost immediately followed by an augmented chord
Double cool chord whammy!
Randy Newman >>>>>>>
Yeah Randy Newman writes some amazing progressions.
I'd always wanted to be able to play that song on guitar, and now I can, but I have to read the chords as I go...too many to remember lol
You’re talking about the II - V - I progressions in a minor key, which is extremely common. Listen to all the minor key songs in the man of La Mancha guitar parts.
these chords are EVIL muhaha
Muhaha
hi shred
EVIL AF
They s are beautiful when used correctly. 😊😊
They sound like dark water
I can't even put into words the joy that seeing All Star in a David Bennett video gives me.
"Songs that use Diminished Chords"
*proceeds to show muse´s entire discography*
Yep - “Stockholm Syndrome” has it.
@@aaronclift Stockholm syndrome, reapers, apocalypse please, new born, screenager... all my favorite muse songs, lol
@@jerebondar8128 plug in baby. Right before the GMaj to start the chorus matt does a F#dim in the upper register.
@@OkonkwoPlaysBass ... Where else? It's not simple to play a dimished chord on the lower register of the guitar. In fact, nigh impossible.
@@PendelSteven you can do a power chord with a diminished 5th and it implies a diminished chord in the harmony I guess
Your piece at the end that only uses diminished chords is actually pretty cool. It may not be very practical for a song on the radio, but I can totally hear that being used in a film score.
Or in a video game
Hey, I get dibs for the soundtrack to my (perpetually unfinished) scifi miniseries! ;-)
I believe Matt Bellamy could manage to write lyrics and sing a melody over that
@@nexas3018: It sounds like something from a video game, probably a SNES or N64/Playstation era Japanese game. Can't quite place it, though. Maybe A Link to the Past
@@ericforsyth Yeah I think there’s something like it in Ocarina of Time but I can’t remember exactly what.
I spent so many years learning music theory by shear force in classical music school, but feeling like it wasn't useful at all, and now in my thirties I am actually understanding practical harmony thanks to amazing youtubers such as David Bennet! Thank you so much!
Same. My theory teacher never played the piano. . .
I learned it in high school and found it very useful . I guess you don't play an instrument
Dude I play not one but several instruments. You can play classical music by just being able to read sheet music... in fact I know lots of people who had the same experience as me, studying harmony by the book but not being able to understand it and apply it
I’m also relearning music in my thirties. This content is good!
The tension built by the diminished chord is like the tension I feel while waiting for David to use an example from a Radiohead song.
Radiohead is my resolved chord.
I love diminished chords. As a child, playing electric organ there were pre-programmed chords and I loved to play along with them. I felt they sounded mysterious and exciting and today I really love when they are incorporated in modern music.
I used to call them "horror music chords" before I knew what they were
@@mgbchoralmusic6443 right spooky 👻
@@bigkeezo especially when played on the keyboard with the pipe organ sound!
Trembling arpeggiated diminished chords rising by half steps is a classic silent film (with live musical score) high tension cliche, on piano or organ.
Here in Brazil, diminished chords are pretty common in many forms and styles! Samba, bossa nova, forró/xote and so on. It's also common in the traditional music of other Latin America nations
O comentário que eu estava procurando!
Forró tmb? Caraca, nn sabia kkkkk
@@ithan0404 sim, principalmente o semi-diminuto, tb chamado de m7(b5). Por ex: em Tropicana do Alceu, tem a sequência Bm / F#m / C#m7(b5) / F#7. Existem zilhões de exemplos!
@@pepafonico aaata kkk
É muito legal saber q nessas músicas há bastante elementos desse tipo. Por elas serem nacionais ainda da até mais orgulho kk
Vlw por explicar
there's a brazillian song called "Ela Partiu"(she left) that has a cool diminished guitar lick, where the guitarist plays a diminished chord, and moves it above it a minor third repeatedly, thus changing chords several times, but never changing notes. as you explain in 17:37
Tim Maia!
Que beleza ...
Songs that include diminished and augmented chords are my favorite when they’re done right. They add so much variety to songs that I love so much
I hope you include a Beatles song for once
😆
Or radiohead
😆
Or muse
Or oasis
You just did better in 15 minutes than 10 years of conservatory for my reading of chords. Brilliant!
Excellent!
Dude... Your videos impart what an alcoholic would call a "moment of clarity." Great videos, breh!
Cheers! 🍺
Life on Mars is absolutely phenomenal when it comes to diminished chords and is overall such a great song. Love Bowie.
As a long-time guitar player, I was always baffled as to how a writer would think to chose a particular diminished chord for a transition in a song. I recently set a goal for myself to learn to play keyboards and I started playing songs that I had played many times on guitar on the piano. While playing these changes on a keyboard I had an epiphany. The most common use for a diminished triad (not the dim 7ths) is simply to create a line cliché by moving the ROOT of the chord up one half step and leaving the 3rd and the 5th alone. So, if you start with a C and move the root up one half step, you get a C#dim. The vast majority of the pop songs I had been playing with diminished triads had the diminished chord immediately preceded or immediately followed by the major chord one half step away. So, in Bennie and the Jets the change is G, G#dim, Am7. G#dim is just a G with the root raised by a half step leading to the Am7. The change in Don't Look Back in Anger is G, G#dim, Am. Again G#dim is just a G with the root raised by a half step. Georgia on My Mind - C7, C#dim7, G/D. This time the C#dim7 is just a C7 with the root raised up one half step. All Star - B, Cdim, B. Cdim is a B with the root raised up one half step. So all you're doing is moving the root up one half step and then back down again. When the Party's Over - A A#dim, B7. The line cliché in Your Song goes backwards it moves from an Adim to an Ab. An Ab is just an Adim with the root dropped by a half step. This little revelation suddenly made it clear why diminished chords were so often a natural result of changes when you're moving only the bass line or the root to transition into another chord.
My Sweet Lord is an example which springs to mind (dim7).
I think you mean ‘He’s So Fine’
@@flynnvanherwijnen7626 Ah - interestingly, the diminished seventh chord isn't there in 'He's So Fine'; the chorus ends with a stop on G major and then goes straight back to Am7.. In 'My Sweet Lord' the G#dim7 is added in as a joining chord back to Am7.
@@kevindurkin3864 Hmmm, and I was told they were identical...
@@flynnvanherwijnen7626 The court case told you that maybe lol
@@HAZARDOUS88 in case you didn’t understand I was being _sarcastic_
I've been a musician for nearly 30 years and I was totally blown over by 'love is a losing game ' Amy was 17 when she wrote that ...I think some people are just born to do it .
The use of the dim chord in ' God only knows ' is just sublime...that's another song that is full of fantastic chords ...the way he uses inversions is just genius
Agreed!
@@DavidBennettPiano great video, but I'm surprised you didn't mention that the next chord in God Only Knows after the segment you analysed is a min7b5. It's how I learned the difference between the two types of chord.
God Only Knows actually uses both a half diminished chord and a regular diminished 7 chord, it’s such an interesting and beautiful composition!
Diminished chords are so intriguing to me because of their symmetry. That attribute wasn’t explicitly mentioned here, but it seems to be implied by a lot of what you demonstrated. While I hear a lot of diminished chords as being added in between chords as cool connective tissue, their symmetry also allows them to be used as interesting tools for modulation.
Also, the piece you composed for the ending sounds like it belongs in the EarthBound soundtrack. I dig it.
Augmented triads have that symmetry too, but by using major thirds instead of minor. Just as four similar diminished triads cover an octave, so do three augmented triads.
Ghost Town by The Specials starts with 4 dimished chords in a row.
(C dim, D flat dim, D dim, and E flat dim)
nice one, absolute classic
Was about to suggest Ghost Town too..!
The first time I used a diminished chord in something, it was C, B half-dim, D half-dim, G. It was on guitar, so I just slid the whole B chord up 3 frets. Now I realize it's a pretty basic way to use diminished chords, but it's kind of fun to think that I stumbled into it out without the help of theory, then the theory helped me understand it.
I’m studying music theory at university and this is the best way I’ve heard this concept explained so far. Thanks, I’ve been trying to understand this concept of what you use a diminished chord for. I thought this would be a fun trivia video, I love random knowledge, and I got that and more understanding of my degree :)
I'm looking forward for the day you'll release a full video about Brazilian music/bossa nova and its chord progressions 🇧🇷
Thanks once again David! Might be no exaggeration to say that 25% of everything I've learned about the deep & wondrous pool that is music theory, I learned from watching your videos, sitting at the piano, trying it out as I go.
Thanks Ben! I’m so glad to hear that you find my videos helpful! 😃😃
I love the song you made in only diminished chords. Such a eerie and beautiful vibe to it!
Just discovered this channel yesterday off of my recommended, absolute goldmine. The visuals and explanations are superb
Genesis loves diminished chords. They’re especially prominent in songs like “In the Cage” and “The Chamber of 32 Doors.”
"Return of giant hogweed" uses several dim chords, from the amazing intro until his powerful ending
The fully diminished track at the end sounds like you're in a mist-filled graveyard late at night, slowly making your way down into a spooky crypt, lantern in hand. I'm sure there's at least one piece from the Monkey Island games that sounds just like this.
I was thinking the same! The ambient music from the swamp in MI2 was my first thought, though there are other similar tracks in the series. ua-cam.com/video/OTzqFB6KQSU/v-deo.html
Yep. I was thinking of something like Luigi's Mansion, myself, but, yep, definite video game mood music.
@@SoleaGalilei Definitely that one too, but I was thinking more the Goodsoup Family Crypt from MI3: ua-cam.com/video/76aX1sQ9dA8/v-deo.html
@@MisterM2402 Scrolling through the comments I was glad to see your profile pic, because the only reason I came down here in the first place was to say how it literally sounds like straight out of Twilight Princess to the point that, before he started explaining that it was his own, I thought he was actually gonna talk about Zelda and how diminished chords are used in soundtracks or something (kinda what @FuzzzWuzzz) said
your Majora's Mask pfp is also fitting. very spooky
Great, great, great video. An incredible usefull explanation to disminished chords uses. Thank you.
Great, I just started looking at a few of your videos. I am amazed of how well you explain things. Some other teachers just don't get the point. Your way gets the point across.
Thank you, keep up the great work you do.
Finallyy, I’ve been searching for your diminish version
Wonderful tutorial! You answered me in 20 minutes questions I had make myself in 40 years. Thank you very much.
So good these videos Dave!! the format of example - explanation is the perfect way to understand harmony.
This has been the most helpful lesson for me on how to build interesting chord progressions, thank you.
Thank you David. Finally I found a video that helped me to better understand diminished chords.
Thank you for making this video. I actually requested it a few months ago, and you responded that you'd make it. I can't imagine how much work one of these videos takes. So I really appreciate it.
Diminished chords are my favorite songwriting tool. I use them in almost every song I write. The most common way I use them is the "Don't Look Back in Anger" style of progression (as a transition between the V and vi chords). But one song of mine uses a B dim 7 to resolve to G minor 7. The B resolves to Bb, the D stays on D, the F stays on F, and the G# resolves to G.
This is one of my videos you've created. I've always wanted to understand diminished chords in more detail. Thank you.
Wow-Best explanation and examples of what and how to use diminished chords! Thank you!
I’ve also heard that some Christmas songs use diminished chords, including the miner flat 5. I’ve saw on Adam Neely’s video on Seline Dion’s version of all by myself, she used that miner flat 5 in what he calls, "The greatest key change in pop music."
Heigh-Ho from Snow White features the minor miner 7.
@@ericforsyth thanks for bringing that to my attention. I’ve heard this song on what used to be Radio Disney a lot, and never noticed how it Modgulated. The miner 7 does give this song a sence of suspence.
Great video and explanation... especially the bit about the 3 ways to include a 7th. Never heard it put so clearly. I've got a piece that ends on a I dim...sort of an unresolved resolution. Pretty neat trick when it works.
this is a FANTASTIC video, thank you david! i'm using these in conjunction with your 'music theory concepts ranked by importance' video to fill the holes in my understanding of music.
It is extraordinary the amount of work you put into these videos. Thankyou.
Thank you Rex!!
Thanks for yet another fantastic songwriting lesson! This was really interesting. I appreciate all the examples and the clear explanation of how to use diminished chords when composing. Keep up the great work! Thank you!
Thanks 😀
In my view, the combination of your excellent commentary and your excellent examples really creates engagement with your videos. Very well done! I keep coming back for more.
Super interesting as always! Incredible work.
Still Got The Blues by the late great Gary Moore uses a m7b5 to great effect. Lady Gaga’s use of a G#dim in Bad Romance before resolving on the relative minor is another favourite of mine. Absolutely makes that whole chorus.
I was already singing Life on Mars in my head when you did that line cliché!!
This has to be one of the best guitar lessons I’ve come across on this site. Ever! It’s one thing learning a song with a diminished chord in it. But quite another learning HOW to use them yourself to compose a song. Thank you!
great vid as usual completely clearing up all the ragged ends of my knowledge of dims. love your mysterious all-dim piece
Thanks!😃😃
I have been hearing The Beatles "Because" in my head for years and had no idea what the song was. God bless you for finally revealing it to me. I feel like I can die at peace now 😂
I'll bet it was that first line - I've had that in my head too, for years
@@GaZonk100 it was indeed the first line! It played over the closing credits of a movie. Still trying to figure out what movie it was.
I'm so happy for you! That's a great feeling.
Was it American Beauty, perhaps? I just checked John Lennon's credits on IMDb. The ones that came up were American Beauty and a Cirque du Soleil movie (and a bunch of Beatles-related movies, like Across the Universe).
Check out Elliott Smith's cover.
Love your videos, you help me learn along my first music theory class I’m taking right now with real world uses of music theory! Thanks for all your great vids!
Thanks Mason 😃
Another excellent video.
The musical journey of a thousand miles… starts with a single step.
Each one of your videos is a step or two further on the journey.
Good stuff.💪👍🎸
Beautifully explained - as usual. Thank you!
Metallica's Call of Ktulu is a lovely example of a great use of the chord. It switches between Am and Adim to build a "dark" tension.
Best music theory teaching channel I’ve found. Great lessons, David.
Very well structured with such great examples. First rate. Thanks.
Thank you! 😄😃
'If I can dream " by Elvis has a nice use of the dim chord and 'Saturday Sun' by Nick drake .
Dim chords are used quite a bit in gospel and blues ...' I need your love so bad " by Fleetwood Mac circa Peter green is another nice use of it .
The chords to ' bridge over trouble water's ' are all good, after the dim chord he goes to Bmin/A bass note and it's just a thing of beauty .
You make music so fascinating. It doesn’t have near the impact written in a book. Awesome!
Thank you!!
I love how you show so simply both what the concept is and how it's used in practice. The examples make it very clear. Thank you for going to the extra effort of finding/creating covers so we can hear what you mean without you getting demonetized. It's absolutely ridiculous that they make you do that when in reality you're giving the copyright holders free advertising by showcasing the music. Anyway, keep on doing what you do!
Wow that resolution into the Bdim from the Bbdim7 in your piece was very impressive! I never thought I could experience such a thing.
Thank you!
Thank you for ”augmenting” our understanding of the diminished chord, David!😉
I like the way you explain music with examples, it makes them more understandable. Well done.
Living in a cave, I didn't know most of the songs, but this is a superb discussion, worth repeated viewings. Definitely moves me forward. Thanks.
7:36 Tom Waits actually uses a diatonic dimished vii chord in his song Martha, which is in major. The main piano riff simply switches back and forth between the I chord and dimished vii. Works quite well :)
Another interesting video full of useful information. Interesting use of the dim chords in your piece at the end - veeery moody and unresolved!
Thanks so much for actually showing musical examples and then how they'd sound *without* the chord. Most music theory videos don't do this, which always makes me think "well, what's the alternative? What's the big deal here?" Showing both is super helpful. This was a really educational video. Thanks for posting, David. Subscribed!
"I'm going slightly mad" by Queen is stuffed with diminished chords
Also "In The Lap Of The Gods" has at least one and "My Melancholy Blues" a some. There's lots of peculiar chords in Queen songs, especially in Freddie's more unique ones.
So that piece of yours at the end could've come straight out of The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask. It's really hauntingly beautiful.
Came here to say this!!
Reminded me of copy x's theme from megaman zero lol
Reminded me of the Shadow Temple in OoT
Great explanation of the diminished chords! Thanks
I follow several piano teachers on the Tube. I enjoy your method of presenting aspects of music, like this vid and the others (augmented coming up). Very useful stuff! Bravo.
Eerie piece! loved it!
The Shadows' Chattanooga Choo-choo instrumental starts with three pairs of diminished chords in different inversions giving the illusion of a train whistle.
You're explanation on the half diminished chord makes so much sense I suddenly get it now. Thanks for filling out my theory!
I have been in several rock bands over the years and wrote and co-wrote songs all the while, WITH NEXT TO NO TRAINING. The David Bennett Piano channel is fascinating and helpful to me, so thanks! In this case, I will be looking over some of my songs to see if any of them could be enriched with diminished chords in the existing progressions.
sheeeeesshh this one was super instructive and helpful
16:04 - THANK YOU, YA BASTARD. I held out to see if he would include God Only Knows on the topic of diminished 7ths.
Great video, love a being able to see the Beatles and The Beach Boys (Brian Wilson) show up in these videos, a testament to each group using musical ideas to great effect, unique or otherwise.
Excellent tutorial David, I’m a composer from Ireland and I really enjoy your videos, your channel is great and you provide a wonderful service to aspiring musicians, thank you.
I love your videos, i was making music for years not knowing what i was doing, then took lessons and learned the mathematics of it, and am still learning through videos like yours
Woo I've never been this early for one of David's videos. Thanks for the great content!
Thank you!
Came here to see if All Star is included. Was not disappointed :)
Cheers for the great work on your videos!
Thank you! 😃
finally found a video that explains theory very clearly while evaluating examples/applications in a perspective that makes a lot of sense. thanks David! very well done! subscribed .. 👌🏽🤘🏽
Love your videos brother.
Thank you so much for all this wonderful knowledge!
Glad you like them! Thank you :)
I think my favourite instance of a dimished chord is in the main Hamilton chord progression.
It's just Bm F# G D Bbdim over and over again, but is captivating nonetheless.
The all diminished song sounds like a suspense movie soundtrack...
I love that diminished composition of yours!
I’m so glad this popped up in my feed. I recently encountered a diminished 7th chord, and couldn’t figure out why Google was telling me the answer it was telling me. This was a nice refresher since my chord reading is a little rusty. I’m looking forward to discovering any of your videos on augmented 7th chords.
I really like the music theory videos. Keep it up! 👍
Thanks Jackson!!
Telephone - ELO uses 2 different diminished chords beautifully, one in the verse as a passing chord and one at the end of the chorus that I still don't understand fully why it works so well.
That filled in a number of aspects of diminished chords that I was not totally clear on. Will watch it again when I'm at the piano.
I never really got so much insight on how some songs were built on diminished chords. Your videos with song examples are much better than any other videos that classicaly teach it. You are giving real life examples and as a singer songwriter myself i really appreciate understanding and appreciate your help
Diminished chords are my favorite! So versatile and dramatic, a lovely dissonance!
I might be wrong, but I believe that the chord used in Don't Look Back in Anger is actually a E7/G# chord.
Yeah, pretty sure you're right on that. There's an investigative video I saw which comes to the same conclusion: ua-cam.com/video/cXd9JmkywJc/v-deo.html
It serves the same role, but yeah that's a more accurate description of it
Correct, though others like rick beato also describe it as a G# diminished chord.
I've watched that video (which somebody linked below) where he claims that it is an E7/G# but, if you listen to the acoustic version that he is going by (ua-cam.com/video/FZqq1yp6P0E/v-deo.html) or look at the song's original stems (which are available online) you can't hear an "E" in that chord. The only difference between a G#dim and a E7/G# is whether or not it has an "E" so, without that essential "E" note, the chord is actually a G#dim 😊
There really isn't much difference between the two chords though 🙂
This video is amazing. I realized I have a better understanding of diminished chords after this than during my harmonic analysis courses a while ago !!
I wish you could have shown an example from baroque era. JS Bach used Diminished chords multiple times that I think it's worthwhile to include him.
Like what you have said in 7:42, JS Bach used Viidim many times in his pieces. He uses this chord to move to dominant chord or different keys. Check out WTC and 12 Little Preludes!