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Need help with a music sheet

Bass_Bear

Bass_Bear

Jun 4, 2008
119
3
Ottawa, Ontario
#1
So basically, I was taking a look at the jazz song "Blues for Alice" in my fakebook, and came across a symbol I don't know. I'm new to bass (only about 8 months in) and newer to reading music so I'm a noob when it comes to this stuff. Basically I'm looking to find out what the symbol of a 0 with a vertical line means if placed in between the E and the 7 in what would otherwise be an E7 chord.

Here's a pic of the symbol because i realise my explanation isn't that great:

E07.jpg


Any help would be appreciated, thanks!
J
 
#8
Personally, I've never understood the difference between diminished and "half diminished", I mean, both of them share the same notes so what makes them different? Is it the seventh? I've seen "fully diminished" chords with added sevenths before.
 
#9
phxlbrmpf said:
Personally, I've never understood the difference between diminished and "half diminished", I mean, both of them share the same notes so what makes them different? Is it the seventh? I've seen "fully diminished" chords with added sevenths before.
Click to expand...

A full diminished chord is symmetric chord which all notes are a minor 3rd apart. So it ends up with a bb7th C, Eb, Gb, Bbb

A half diminished chord has a b7th C, Eb, Gb, Bb.
 
#10
DocBop said:
A full diminished chord is symmetric chord which all notes are a minor 3rd apart. So it ends up with a bb7th C, Eb, Gb, Bbb
Click to expand...

Quite true, in common usage. But as you know (and the OP may not), what you've described is technically a diminished 7th chord. A true diminished chord would be a triad--1 b3 b5.

Nevertheless, most people commonly refer to a diminished 7th chord as simply a diminished chord.

Although if people did consistently use the dim7 (o7) designation rather than dim (o), it would make the connection between the diminished 7th and the half-diminished 7th a lot clearer IMO.
 
#11
phxlbrmpf said:
Personally, I've never understood the difference between diminished and "half diminished", I mean, both of them share the same notes so what makes them different? Is it the seventh? I've seen "fully diminished" chords with added sevenths before.
Click to expand...

They're not exactly the same notes. One is a diminished triad with a diminished 7th; the other is a diminished triad with a minor 7th.

As far as "half"-diminished goes, the second chord has half as many diminished intervals (diminished 5th) in it as the first chord has (diminished 5th and diminished 7th). Or, to put it another way, if a minor 7th chord is one "stop" on the harmonic line and the diminished 7th is another, then the min7b5 or half-diminished 7th chord is halfway between the two.
 
#12
Ah, okay, thanks for clearing that up, I didn't know there was such a thing as a diminished seventh. I guess that the "diminished chords with a seventh" my music teacher kept on mentioning back then were actually half-diminished chords.
 

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