# Question about chords



## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

How can these chords have the same name(s)?
I'm assuming it is based on solely on the fact that they have the same notes?

Click to enlarge and save your eyes


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## shoretyus (Jan 6, 2007)

It's an inversion .. same chord the root is in a different place


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

Thanks! 

I looked up "inversion" as I had heard the term in the past. The explanation was not as simple as yours.


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## jbealsmusic (Feb 12, 2014)

Yes, same name(s) because the same notes used. However, technically, they wouldn't actually have the same name(s) in practice. The inversion should be indicated with a / followed by the bass note used.

For instance, the first example's names should actually be:
Gdim7
C#dim7/G
Edim7/G
A#dim7/G

Second example would be:
Edim7
A#dim7/E
Gdim7/E
C#dim7/E


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

@jbealsmusic Thanks!
Your chord naming approach makes more sense and eliminates confusion.

Since we have progressed this far, could the same chord as in Post #1 also go by this name? (below)...and retain the same name as it progresses up the neck?
That is what a YouTube lesson is showing.










EDIT: I just noticed that the "A" string is played (open) in the A7b9.


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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

(I'm wasted and just woke up, so sorry if this doesn't compute/)

The notes of diminished 7 chords are the same distance apart and therefore the chord may be referred to by any of the notes as the root, though usually the context will decide which. This also means if you move the chord shape from its location to one 3 frets higher or lower (say, from frets 5 to 8 or frets 5 to 2) it's the same chord.

Also, if you flatten any single note in a dim7 chord the result is a dominant 7 chord. Makes for great chord substitutions and progressions this way.


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## Wardo (Feb 5, 2010)

Is that the one where no matter where you play it it’s the same chord?


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## KapnKrunch (Jul 13, 2016)

@Mooh good explanation.

I might add that any single note with the same four-fret spread either direction (up or down) will work if you want to make a run through a diminshed chord. Just keep going four, four, four.... 

You will soon see the pattern. Very easy.

It sounds like the old piano accompaniment to a silent movie where the heroine is tied to the train tracks.


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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

Then there are augmented chords.


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

Many thanks to everyone for the explanations. 



KapnKrunch said:


> It sounds like the old piano accompaniment to a silent movie where the heroine is tied to the train tracks.


My good friend @Hamstrung showed me this chord many years ago gave the same/similar "heroine tied to the train tracks" reference when it is played sequentially up the neck. I have a giggle every time I play it that way...the tension rises and it never resolves.


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## Merlin (Feb 23, 2009)

greco said:


> View attachment 246308
> 
> 
> EDIT: I just noticed that the "A" string is played (open) in the A7b9.


You can also move the fingered notes up three frets at a time keeping the open A string, and it will be the same chord. Such is the magic of inversions.


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## JazzyT (Nov 1, 2017)

greco said:


> @jbealsmusic Thanks!
> Your chord naming approach makes more sense and eliminates confusion.
> 
> Since we have progressed this far, could the same chord as in Post #1 also go by this name? (below)...and retain the same name as it progresses up the neck?
> ...


Warning: jazz!

Often a diminished 7th chord is functioning as a 7b9 chord, without root.

For example:
CMaj7: x3545x
C#dim7: x4535x
Dmin7: x5756x
...

That C#dim7 can be thought of as a A7b9 and then you see the A7 -> Dmin circle of fifths movement.


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## Cardamonfrost (Dec 12, 2018)

I am going to have to think about this for a very long time before my brain gets the upper hand...

I learned a couple diminished runs for the tune Slipknot (the end of the song Help On The Way by the Grateful Dead) great lesson for me on minor arpeggios, and what dims used in context - key modulations seem to be a strong suit- sound like.

C


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## cboutilier (Jan 12, 2016)

Before you think too hard about inversions, just remember the bass player usually has the low root covered. The order in which you use the rest of the notes in the chord are where you can get creative


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## tomee2 (Feb 27, 2017)

Wardo said:


> Is that the one where no matter where you play it it’s the same chord?


I read about this chord in a book, and was like.. what?


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