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6.2.4 The Diminished Chord, or Diminished Triad
So far, you’ve heard the results of stacking a minor third atop a major third, creating a major chord. And stacking a major third atop a minor third (creating a minor chord). In both cases, you get a stable, balanced-sounding, consonant chord.
What happens when you stack two minor thirds, one atop the other?
A sound loaded with tension. Completely unbalanced and dissonant. Not “bad”—just unbalanced and dissonant. Even though it’s comprised of two consonant intervals, this chord doesn’t sound in any way self-contained, like the major and minor triads. How come?
It’s that cloven-hoofed interval from Hell itself, the tritone—the most dissonant of intervals (also known as the diminished fifth), making its appearance as the chord’s outer interval. The chord you get when you pile two minor thirds atop each other is the diminished triad, or simply the diminished chord.
How about stacking two major thirds, one atop the other?
You get another rootless, restless-sounding chord. Again, unbalanced and dissonant, but not as dark sounding as the diminished chord.