Conference napalm::guitar

    In general, one used diminished chords in place of 7ths.
    They imply motion up.  They are of course a collection of flatted
    fifths.  The flatted 5th was called the Devil's Tone by the Church
    because it has so much instability.
    
    Try using it in place of a 7th chord, one/half step below your target.
    
    For example, instead of a G7 - C   try Bdim to C.
    You might try B-7b5 instead.
    
    Of course, this implies you could play a Bdim appeggio over a G7
    for soloing.
    
    Example:
    
    C  AM  DM   G7    C
              
                 Play a B dim appeggio.  A Bminor 7th flatted fifth
                 will be more traditional.

    Dim chords are great as passing chords.
    
    Reasons:
    
    	1) Move a dim chord up or down a minor third and you have the
           same chord with a different inversion.  So applying the
    	   "motion up" tendency mentioned in .1, you could use a Bdim
    	   to get to C, A, Gb or Eb.
    
    	2) Not only that, but dim chords motion chromatically very
           well.  Just play a dim chord on the guitar and go down
           one fret at a time.  It'll sound very familiar.
    
    So using these two things together you can approach almost any chord
    with a dim.   This also means dim chords are great for doing a smooth
    modulation, including less commonly used modulations (up or down
    chromatically, a whole tone, or going to the relative major or minor
    are by far the most common in my observation).
    
    	db

    Thanks for the input so far; I've tried a few of these ideas and
    got some reasonable sounding progressions worked out. Now...how
    about using augmented chords ?
    
    Andy

    
    Augmented chords, like dim chords have a symmetrical harmony to
    them.  I usually use the augmented chord as a substitution for 
    a V7 chord, as in this common 1-6-2-5 progression:
    
    Cmaj7   A-7   D-9     G+7
    
    Imaj7  VI-7  IV-7(9)  V+7
    
    Also, the chord pops up in certian chord scales.  As in the Harmonic
    Minor Chords scale, the augmented chord is the flatted third harmony.
                                                                   |
    Cmin  Ddim  Ebaug  Fdim  Gmaj  Abmaj  Bdim                     |
                                                                   v
    Imin  IIdim b3AUG  IVdim Vmaj  bVImaj VIIdim                   |
                  ^                                                |
                  |_________________________________________________ 
    
    You could substitute the aug. chord from the harmonic minor chord scale
    in place of a regluar minor 7 chord (found in the natural minor chord
    scale) if you wanted to change your context for soloing. 
    
    Buck
    
    

    I play an arrangement of "Michelle" incorporating a diminished
    progression and I have also written a song called "Lovingly" using
    such chords...
    For further info just contact me..
    Regards
    Jeff Jansen  P&T  @ F1/10 SBP UK 

Get a copy of the music to David Bowie's "Life on Mars", which is
absolutely full of aug's and dim's. That'll give you an idea of how you 
might use them.

For instance, you get the sequence:

	F F#dim Gm G#dim Am Bb Bbm F

Cheers,
Dave

    Bowies 'Quicksand' off Hunky Dory also has a few dims
    
    Bob