C Diminished
Cdim
Notes
C · E♭ · G♭
Intervals
- RootC (1P)
- Minor 3rdE♭ (3m)
- Diminished 5thG♭ (5d)
Fretboard
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About
The C diminished triad (C–E♭–G♭) stacks two minor thirds, producing a tense, unstable sound. The instability comes from the tritone between root and ♭5 — an interval the ear strongly wants to resolve. It most often appears as the vii° chord in a major key, functioning as a leading-tone chord that resolves up a half step to the tonic; here C° → D♭. All three tones — root, E♭, G♭ — are structurally important, since removing any one collapses the chord’s identity. Because its shape repeats every three frets (the symmetrical construction), diminished shapes are unusually portable across the neck. Compared to Cm, the flattened fifth creates a much more directed pull toward resolution.
Similar chords
Chords sharing two or more notes with this one, ranked by overlap.
Scales containing this chord
- C Blues (deg 1)
- C Diminished (deg 1)
- C Locrian (I)
- A Diminished (deg 3)
- A♭ Mixolydian (III)
- B♭ Diminished (deg 2)
- B♭ Harmonic Minor (II)
- B♭ Natural Minor (II)
- D♭ Diminished (deg 8)
- D♭ Harmonic Minor (VII)
- D♭ Major (VII)
- D♭ Melodic Minor (VII)
- E Diminished (deg 6)
- E Harmonic Minor (VI)
- E♭ Diminished (deg 7)
- E♭ Dorian (VI)
- E♭ Melodic Minor (VI)
- F Phrygian (V)
- F♯ Diminished (deg 5)
- F♯ Lydian (IV)
- G Diminished (deg 4)
- G Harmonic Minor (IV)
Scales whose notes include every chord tone. The Roman numeral (or scale degree) marks the chord root’s position in the scale.