Music Theory I

DIMINISHED AND AUGMENTED CHORDS

Diminished chords get their name from their flatted 5^th. There are really only three different dim. chords because their notes are evenly spaced. For example B°  =  b, d, f, g#  with the notes all a minor third from one another. So twelve possible notes divided by four means there are only three different dim. chords. The name of the chord is any one of the notes in it, for example, B°, D°, F°, and G#° are all the same chord. There are many possible orderings (inversions) of the notes, but from the point of view of music theory an inversion of a chord does not usually change its function.

In Crazy, play E° and  B° on 5^th fret, G#° on the 6^th fret  if you're using the Bb barre chord on the 6th fret.

Augmented chords get their name from their sharped 5^th. As with diminished chords their notes are evenly spaced, but in the aug. chord they are a major third apart. For example F+  consists  f, a, c#. Twelve notes divided by three means there are only four different augmented chords. As with the dim. chords, the name of an aug. chord is any one of the notes in it. There are many possible orderings (inversions) of the notes, but from the point of view of music theory an inversion of a chord does not usually change its function.

In Crazy play F+ on the 6^th fret if you're using the Bb barre chord on the 6th fret,
and play all the dim. and aug. chords as recommended above. They have nice chromatic root motions.

Bb to B° to Cmi  (bars 11 and 12)

Bb to Cmi to C#°  (bars 13 and 14)

Eb to E°  (bars 15 and 16)

F, F+, Bb  (bars 9 and 10)

E to G#° to B (last bar)

Try playing the Bb, B, C, C#, and D chords in the first bar as barre chords like this G,
but starting on the 6^th fret and moving it to the 7th fret, 8th, 9th, and 10th.