Infinite Fretboard

The diminished, also known as the "Octatonic" scale is known for its symmetry which is achieved by a strict alternation of half-step, whole-step, half-step, whole-step etc. G diminished scale One of the many fascinating facts about the diminished scale is its eight tones can be organized into two fully diminished 7th chords, a half step away. The two diminished chords that comprise the octatonic scale On top of that, if we invert any diminished 7th chord, we get the exact same intervals of the original chord, which results as the same shape on guitar shifted up three frets. For example, the G diminished chord above becomes B-flat diminished. B-flat diminished 7th With these two facts in mind, it can be extrapolated that any octatonic scale may be harmonized with nothing but diminished chords, as such: Fig 4: Harmonized G Octatonic Scale Yet this scale hides much more than just diminished chords. It has minor 7th, dominant 7th, major 7 sus4 #11, an...

ii-V7-I (drop 2 and 3) I was practicing my major ii-V-I's (drop 2 and 3) as usual when I noticed something interesting... First of all, this is a standard progression that goes Dminor7 - G7 - CMajor7. How it normally sounds:  On a specific voicing, 1-3-7-5, of the minor-7 chord, it feels natural to go to a dominant flat-5 chord instead of the vanilla V7. ii-V7b5-I (drop 2 and 3) In the key of C, this would be D-F-C-A going to Db-F-B-G, as shown on the left. Accidentally playing this progression, I wasn't offended because it's a cool sound. Observe the chromatic descending line in the bass. Same progression, but with a V7b5: ii-V7b5-bVM7 As I resolved the dominant chord, my fingers, by their own agency, proceeded to play a Gb-Maj7 instead of CMaj7. Voiced Db-F-Bb-Gb, this chord is a tritone away from the tonic, but it doesn't sound bad at all. In fact, if I wasn't expecting to hear a C-Maj7, it'd be a completely no...

A triad is traditionally defined as a set of three notes that are stacked in thirds. By this definition, there are only four triads: Major, Minor, Diminished, and Augmented. If we include diminished thirds in these constructions, there are more possibilities, including Major-flat-5 (which is a half-diminished chord without a third). Recently I have been inspired to approach triads from a modal perspective, thanks to Rick Beato's video The HIDDEN CHORDS You Don't Know . Rick's list of diatonic triads includes Major, Minor, Diminished, Phrygian, Locrian, and Sus. As these are all derived from the major scale, there is no augmented chord. These chords each contain a root, second/third/fourth, and fifth: Major: 1-3-5 Minor: 1-b3-5 Diminished: 1-b3-b5 Phrygian: 1-b2-5 Locrian: 1-b2-b5 Sus: 1-2-5 or 1-4-5 You might notice that sus4 and sus2 are the same sonority. For example Gsus4 has the notes G-C-D, while Csus2 is the same tones spelled C-D-G. Similarly, the modal tr...