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Home » Diminished 7th / min6 Chords

Diminished 7th / min6 Chords

Diminished chords (dim triads) consist of a Root, a minor 3rd, and a diminished 5th.

Standard Stradella bass system allows you to play dim7th(omit 5th) chords by pushing just one button on the 6th column.

Diminished chord buttons column on the Stradella bass system

Diminished 7th chord buttons column on the Stradella bass system

A dim7th chord consists of a Root, a minor 3rd, a diminished 5th, and a diminished 7th but on almost all accordions, the diminished chord buttons don’t play the 5th so we have just: Root, minor 3rd, and diminished 7th.

On the Stradella bass system, diminished 7th chords can be seen also as minor 6th chords

A minor 6th chord consists of: Root, minor 3rd, 5th, 6th.

As I said before, on standard bass accordions, the diminished chords play the Root, the minor 3rd, and the diminished 7th and omit the 5th.

A diminished 7th interval is also a Major 6th interval so we have Root, minor 3rd, 6th which is a minor 6th(omit5th) chord.

In order to play a complete minor 6th chord you should play the Root + the minor chord + the diminished chord but is very uncomfortable and adding a chord just to get a 5th (which it doesn’t add any tension) is not practical. So, to play a minor 6th chord, push just the root + the diminished chord button.

Diminished 7th chords on Accordion in all keys: