Bdim guitar chord

1st inversion · D in the bass
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About Bdim — inversions voicings

Bdim is a minor triad with its 5th lowered to : B, D and F. That makes two stacked minor thirds.

“Dim” names a three-note triad, not a diminished seventh chord. In a major key, it often appears as a borrowed minor-key ii or a passing chord.

Also written B°, Bo or B diminished.

Bdim inversions guitar chord diagram: B, D, F, played x5343x
Bdim inversions guitar chord voicing: x-5-3-4-3-x.

What an inversion is

How to use Bdim

1A dark ii in a major key

I – ii° – I

In pop songs Bdim nearly always sits on the second degree, borrowed from the minor key. Its fifth is the key’s flat sixth, and it falls a half step back to the fifth of A.

Listen for: The fifth of the I rises a half step and falls back. Every other voice is a neighbour too.

Heard in“Cara Mia”“The Air That I Breathe”“Sleep Walk” (going on to V)

2Between two positions of the I

I – vii°6 – I6

The commonest classical use of Bdim: in first inversion, between C and the same chord with its third in the bass. It stretches the home chord while the bass climbs by step.

Listen for: The bass climbs a whole step twice, root to third of the I, while the notes above step down and back.

In which keys. Every note of Bdim belongs to C major and A minor.

What to play over Bdim

Useful scales

  • +EF#A

    Contains Bdim and adds fourth, fifth and flat seventh.

  • +CEGA

    Contains Bdim and adds flat second, fourth, sharp fifth and flat seventh.

  • +CD#GA

    Contains Bdim and adds flat second, major third, sharp fifth and flat seventh.

  • +C#EGG#A#

    Contains Bdim and adds second, fourth, sharp fifth, sixth and major seventh.

  • +CD#F#G#A

    Contains Bdim and adds flat second, major third, fifth, sixth and flat seventh.

Every scale

Chords near Bdim

Change one note

  • 1st inversion
    1st inversion
    F → F#

    Raise the flat fifth to the fifth.

    See Bm chord →

Add a note

Diminished and half-diminished chords on every root

The common shapes and the derived voicings come from different places, and both are explained in how this site is built.

Midi Settings

7.5
Play Style
One pass of the pick from the lowest string up, everything left ringing.
Instrument
350
150

Style

Shows each chord the way this style would voice it, and marks which of its alternatives belong to the idiom.

Layout

Left Handed Mode