In the context of a chord progression in a harmonic minor key, when do the stacked diminished 7 arpeggios that YJM uses so regularly theoretically fit in? I.e. over what chords?
I’m trying to improve my understanding of neoclassical improvisation. The best I’ve been able to glean from the web is there’s a connection between harmonic minor, Phrygian dominant mode and the diminished scale/arpeggios. Any recommendations for resources would be appreciated.
Thanks!
In harmonic minor, when the harmony goes to the Major V chord (Dominant), you can play a diminished seventh arpeggio starting on the raised seventh scale degree of the key. So, if you are in A minor and and the Major V comes up (E major) you can play diminished arpeggios starting on a g#.
The reason this works is because the notes in an E Major (or the dominant 7th version – E7) are E G# B and D. The notes in a g# diminished 7 are G# B D and F. The overlap is obvious plus it has the super cool “F” which is E7’s flat 9th. So you imply an altered dominant sound by playing the diminished arpeggios.
There’s probably a modal explanation too (your Phrygian Dominant reference) but I favor harmonic context over modal, when there’s a strong cadence. And we can’t get a stronger cadence than V7 → i 
Thanks for this. I had read that I can break into diminished with its root on the harmonic minor’s raised seventh as long as we’re on the V chord. I thought maybe I was missing something though since those instances of dim arpeggios come up often enough in YJM music. And perhaps there might be other occasions as well. From what you’re saying though it seems I need only be aware of the V. Thank you!
There are other ways of thinking about this too. You’d get to the same result if you started the diminished arpeggio a half step above the root note of the dominant chord. So in my example above, when the harmony goes to E7, go half a step above E (which is F natural) and play your diminished arpeggio. It will contain the same notes as if you thought of it as starting on the raised 7th of the key. After thinking about it, I actually like the “half step above the root of the dominant” better because there are plenty of other dominant resolutions that occur in classical music that aren’t just V -> i. There are secondary dominants too. They would work the same way, but it could be cumbersome to always think about the raised 7th of where you’re going (the chord that resolves). Thinking simply a half step above where you are (the dominant) is easier.
For example, if you’re in A minor and want to set up a Dminor chord, you could do that by playing an A7 chord. In your soloing, over the A7, you can play a diminished arpeggio starting a half step above A (which is Bb). Though inverted, this diminished 7th arpeggio would contain the pitches C# E G and Bb. It’s almost as if for a brief moment we have modulated to Dm. If that were the case, you can probably see why a c# diminished 7 would work -> it is based on the raised 7th scale of Dminor (C#).
Either way you choose to think of it, it’s a harmonic scenario that builds strong tension between 2 chords and usually resolves. The following cool neo-classical sounding chord progression would give you some decent mileage out of this pattern:
Chord: | Am E7 | Am A7 | Dm E7 | Am |
--------------------------------------------------------------|
Arpgeggio for soloing: | Am G#dim | Am C#dim | Dm G#dim| Am |Okay, it took me awhile to get my head around that but I think I got it. Thanks!
No problem! And sorry, I’m aware I have big issues being concise lol! One of these days…I’ll master it. Till then, verbose posts But yeah it’s pretty easy. Any dominant 7th chord, just play a diminished half step above it. I should have put that in a TLDR haha
It’s fine! I appreciate the willingness to provide the specific knowledge. Some guys well versed in theory that I asked about this try to get me to go through a ton of mode related material before touching this harmonic minor business. I’m an amateur so I’d rather try and work my way through with the material pertinent to the hobby. Even though it might go against the natural order of learning. I’m not saying I have zero knowledge of modes. But becoming comfortable with all of them like perhaps a jazz musician might do in their undergrad studies seems daunting when all I want to do is noodle around in harmonic minor like one might do with minor pentatonic over blues progressions.
Pat Martino’s REH instructional also comes to mind.
Around 13 minutes or so he discusses some cool tricks to visually relate dominant chords and diminished 7 chords:
You can try a Spanish Harmonic Minor progression.
i min - b Maj (or Maj7) - V7 (or V7 b9 if you like) - i min.
lol! This is literally the first music theory meme I’ve ever seen. Makes sense since I am old now. They didn’t have meme’s when I studied theory in college.
Interesting observation: ‘meme’ spelled backwards is ‘emem’ or if you use your imagination ‘Em Em’… which are the first chords most twins learn if they take beginner guitar lessons together
Technically, shouldn’t the 4 ducklings have 4 parents as well?
Yeah, you can derive these 4 ducklings from 4 different b9 dominants. The way I usually use them is thinking about that one particular dominant and starting the diminished run from its 3, 7, 5 or 9, so the meme is compatible with my way of doing things.
We can also reverse it in a way that diminished chord is duck mom and 4 dominants are the ducklings, makes sense from the perspective of enharmonic modulation in classical music theory.
That also means you can use the diminished chord to modulate to a different key! For example you can go from Cm to Ebm, Gbm, Am by using the diminished chord as a pivot. I think Bach used that idea.
In the context of a chord progression in a harmonic minor key, when do the stacked diminished 7 arpeggios that YJM uses so regularly theoretically fit in? I.e. over what chords?
Harmonic minor is pretty unique in its harmony, hence its name.
But, suffice to say, the V and vii° chords of harmonic minor are technically one and the same.
Let’s take the key of A minor.
The diatonic chords in a minor key are represented with Roman numerals. Lower case is minor, upper case is major, and the degree symbol indicates a diminished chord:
i ii° bIII iv V bVI vii°.
Now, let’s add chords to this to have it make more sense:
Amin, Bdim, C, Dmin, E, F, G#dim.
Let’s add our next tier of harmony, 7th chords:
Amin(maj7), Bmin7b5, Cmaj7#5, Dmin7, E7, Fmaj7, G#dim7.
Now, let’s look at the V and vii° chords more closely.
E7 contains these notes:
E G# B D.
G#dim7 contains these notes:
G# B D F.
Now, if we look at the V chord one more time, and add our chord extensions to it, we end up creating an E7b9 chord, which contains these notes:
E G# B D F.
In other words, the V and vii° of harmonic minor are one and the same in harmonic minor.
Now, let’s look more closely at the vii° chord.
It’s G#dim7, and dim7 chords are chords that are built by stacking minor thirds on top of each other to create these intervals:
1 b3 b5 bb7.
Meaning, all you have to do on guitar is memorize one shape for a dim7 chord, then move it up and down by three frets, and all you’ll be doing is playing the same arpeggio, just in different inversions.
Let’s try it with the G#dim7 chord.
G#dim7 in root position is:
G# B D F.
G#dim7 in first inversion, commonly written as G#dim7/B, is:
B D F G#.
G#dim7 in second inversion, commonly written as G#dim7/D, is:
D F G# B.
G#dim7 in third inversion, commonly written as G#dim7/F, is:
F G# B D.
What this means, realistically, is if you’re improvising in A harmonic minor, and you land on any F, G#, B, or D note, that means you can move up or down three frets, and still stay within harmonic minor, and if you build a dim7 chord off them by just stacking minor thirds on them, that means you’ll basically be playing the vii° chord of harmonic minor.
Cool, eh?
As far as when to use it, that comes down to some good ol’ fashioned functional harmony as it applies to minor keys.
Let’s do a quick crash course on functional harmony really quick.
In any key, major or minor, there’s going to be chords that sound the most stable and consonant. These are your tonic function chords.
There’s also going to be chords that are very unstable, tense, and dissonant. These are your dominant function chords, and their job is to reaffirm the key. Thus, that’s why the G# note in A harmonic minor has a strong tendency to resolve up to the A note.
There’s also going to be chords that aren’t as stable as tonic function chords, but not as dissonant as dominant function chords, and in most circumstances, they set up the dominant function chords. These are called your predominant function chords.
Now, let’s refamiliarize ourselves with the diatonic chords of a minor key:
i ii° bIII iv V bVI vii°.
Now, here’s each chord categorized by their functions.
Tonic Function: i, bIII, bVI.
Dominant Function: V and vii°.
Predominant Function: ii° and iv.
Now, since E7 and G#dim7 are your V and vii° chords respectively, they’re dominant function chords by default. They’ll sound the most dissonant and tense, and have a strong tendency to move towards the i chord, Amin.
You can hear how satisfying moving from E7 to Amin sounds, which creates a perfect cadence.
But, since we now know that technically speaking, V and vii° chords are one and the same in harmonic minor, that means we can use our diminished arpeggios over the V and vii° chords.
If we play a G#dim7 chord over an E chord, it’s not going to sound out of place, in fact, together, the two chords will both imply the sound of E7b9.
But, a personal tip, in harmonic minor, your dim7 chord occurs on the vii°, a dominant function chord, and you can use it in place of the V chord because it sounds more evil.
In conclusion, in harmonic minor, a diminished arpeggio can be used over the V and vii° chords in harmonic minor, because technically speaking, they contain the same notes, and to boot, they serve the same function, and that’s a dominant function.
Hope this helps!
Cheers!
This is excellent. Thank you!
Yeah, I don’t really play with much of a neoclassical influence, but if I were to start playing diminished arpeggios, this is where I’d do it.
