diminished triad

As the name implies, the three note triad is diminished. Diminished how? Well, the perfect fifth interval between the root and the fifth of an already minor triad is reduced a half step, creating an diminished fifth, which along with it's minor third, defines the sound of this three note chord. A doubly minor triad? Yeh. The b5 symbol is a common way to denote this diminished fifth interval. Thinking from the root, we stack two minor third intervals above the root to create the diminished triad. Here is a handy picture of the building process to compare the the proper intervals of the minor and diminished triads. Example 5.

Thinking in the tonal center of C minor, the tonic or C diminished triad is created by the 1st, b3rd and b5th scale degrees of the C diminished scale. Let's aurally compare these two important colors. Example 5a.

In the major tonality, the diminished triad is perhaps the ultimate passing chord of all time. Here we place the diminished color between tonic and Two. Example 5b.

Here are the pitches of the C diminished scale and numerical scale degrees. Isn't there an intervalic symmetry to this group of pitches? Example 5b.

Here is a piano illustration of  C, Eb, and Gb, (1, b3, b5). At the piano, a root position C diminished triad is struck thus, click to hear the sound. Example 5c.

Cool with this? Can we create a diminished triad on each of the pitches of the chromatic scale? Of course we can. Lets do it. Here is a chart spelling out the diminished triad from each of the 12 pitches of the chromatic scale, organized by the cycle of fourths. Example 5d.

Here is the sound of the above chart of 12 diminished triads created from equal temper. Example 5e.

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