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In major scales, a diminished triad occurs only on the seventh scale degree. For instance, in the key of C, this is a B diminished triad (B, D, F). Since the triad is built on the seventh scale degree, it is also called the leading-tone triad. This chord has a dominant function.
Its tonic chord is a diminished triad (B dim = B dim 5 min 3 = B D F, in the Locrian mode using the white-key diatonic scale with starting note B, corresponding to a C major scale starting on its 7th tone). This mode's diminished fifth and the Lydian mode's augmented fourth are the only modes that contain a tritone as a note in their modal scale.
The diminished triad can be used to substitute for the dominant seventh chord. In major scales, a diminished triad occurs only on the seventh scale degree. For instance, in the key of C, this is a B diminished triad (B, D, F). Since the triad is built on the seventh scale degree, it is also called the leading-tone triad.
In minor, the diminished triad (comprising two minor thirds, which together add up to a tritone) appears on the second scale degree—and thus features prominently in the progression ii o –V–i. Often, the inversion ii o6 is used to move the tritone to the inner voices as this allows for stepwise motion in the bass to the dominant root.
Diminished triads may be represented by lower-case Roman numerals with a degree symbol (e.g., vii o 7 indicates a diminished seventh chord built on the seventh scale degree; in the key of C major, this chord would be B diminished seventh, which consists of the notes B, D, F and A ♭).
In jazz theory, it is called the diminished scale [8] or symmetric diminished scale [9] because it can be conceived as a combination of two interlocking diminished seventh chords, just as the augmented scale can be conceived as a combination of two interlocking augmented triads.
The distinctive scale degree here is the diminished fifth (d5). This makes the tonic triad diminished, so this mode is the only one in which the chords built on the tonic and dominant scale degrees have their roots separated by a diminished, rather than perfect, fifth. Similarly the tonic seventh chord is half-diminished. Tonic triad: Bdim or B°
Diminished major seventh chords are very dissonant, containing the dissonant intervals of the tritone and the major seventh.They are frequently encountered, especially in jazz, as a diminished seventh chord with an appoggiatura [citation needed], especially when the melody has the leading note of the given chord: the ability to resolve this dissonance smoothly to a diatonic triad with the same ...