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I've been experimenting with a lot of lines and voicings within the diminished scale lately. Here's one I stumbledupon today.

Play this in the octave just above middle C or one octave up:

LH:G Ab DRH: F A# B E or F A# B F

Being symmetrical, E, G , Bb and Db in the bass all apply.Listen how the character of the sound changes with each different bass note. Happy transposing...

I like! It's a full sounding but more highly voiced beast that should cut through the sound like a diminished buzzsaw. Those 1/2 steps contrasted with the 4ths make a nice crispy but lush sonority. I prefer the E on top instead ofthe octave.

Yeah Bobby.....

This isn't pure diminished, the RH triad borrows from F melodic Minor:

LH: D (below middle C) Ab DbRH: G C E G

Sounds nice w/ a E or Bb in the bass, G works, Db is an acquired taste.

Nice voicing! With diminished chords any note a whole-step up from a chord tone (or a half-step down) can beused as an extension. In other words, voicings can contain any number of combinations of the notes from thewhole-half diminished scale. One way is to combine all 8 notes into one really dense voicing by playing two

diminished chords a whole-step apart, as in:

LH: G, A#, Db, ERH: F#, A, C, Eb

Good one. Sounds like a horror thing. Like a G pedal and alternate

LH Ab D RH F A# B E to

LH D Ab C# RH E A# B F

with a rhythm like a knife going through a shower curtain.

Having trouble wrapping my ears around that one. The octave of the G on top doesn't do it for me. I hear C majortoo strongly sticking out of the mud.

Actually I just tried it with the E in the bass and I can dig it. It's like an altered E dominant with both natural andflat 13ths. It kind of voiceleads to this A MAJ.

LH: E G# C#RH: F# B D# G# with an A in the bass.

That's good...might try in the LH..2nd inversion A triad..

LH: E A C#RH: F# B D# G#...like B/A with the 6th on top.

I like that sound w/ a G in the bass, that's the demented mf in me.Or to stay in the voice leading mode:

Original has an E7 Alt.LH: D Ab DbRH: G C E G

to A maj. 13 b11/ C# or B/A add6LH:C# A ERH:F# B D# G# ...go easy on those stretches, don't hurt yourself.

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LH D Ab C# RH E A# B FThat's kind of hard to digest for my ears... those three consecutive semitones (C, Db, D), though displaced indifferent octaves, leave out any sense of 'mode'. Maybe if one of those notes were a pedal point coming fromanother chord... but that's just me.

That's a beautiful sound. Brass voicings from some Bob Minzer arrangements come to mind...

A 'softer' variation on Linwood's "horror" double-diminished chord could be alternating two voicings, like this:LH: F# Bb C RH: C# E Aalternates with

LH. E Bb C RH: C# F#

Try taking the C triad in the RH up an octave so that the G in the RH is a tritone away from the Db in the LH. I'mguessing maybe you were playing those two chords on top of each other...that would get an ughhh!! from me aswell.

So...LH: D (minor 7 below middle C) Ab DbRH: G (5th above middle C) C E G

Better? That might have been what you were already doing, in which case I guess I would have to say it's anacquired taste thing.I've been piling extensions and clusters on top of each other for so long I guess my ear is totally "detuned" to analtered state.See what happens when you harass Richie Beirach into a few lessons.I really need to figure out Sibelius or Finale.

LH(above mid C) D G Ab Db RH F Bb B E...more split octaves than one man should play. I'm afraid it's gotta go onsome poor sob's jingle this afternoon.

For Me I the Db is too much in your faceBy removing it I get more feeling from this voicing Esp on a rhodes patchLH: D (below middle C) Ab /RH: G C E GHere is one for youLH: D (below middle C) Ab Db / RH: C E G# B

Yeah Chad, for me everything changes when you start voicing chords on a EP. I've found that less is more on thatinstrument, especially concerning cluster type things. Removing the Db probably gives it a more accessible soundthan on the piano...I haven't turned on my S90 since New Years Eve so I'd have to try. At the piano it definitelyhas more of that "pure" ring of Bb7+11, E7+9+5 or Dm9b5 add4.

I like your chord if you use a Bb in the bass, especially if that C in the RH is middle C....cool, a C maj.7+5 stackedon a Bb7+9 upper sructure, love the augmented stuff ....you're has demented has me...haha. Thanks

I am really trying to explore different Augmented and diminished Voicings. You can produce so much feeling andemotion with just the right voicings

LH: Ab(below middle C) CRH: E (3rd above middle C) B Eb

Augmented concoction....try w/ D, F, A in the bass for a more outer space effect.

12 note dominantF (pedal)

LH starts below middle C - Eb, G, A, B, C, DRH - Ab, Db, E, Gb, Bb

2 more diminished variations..LH: middle C Db (half step up)RH: G Bb ELH: Db ERH: Bb C GEo7 add6.....goes with Eb/Gb/A/C in the bass.