Depends on what kind of trance you're making. It's pretty standard to just use minor and major chords in trance music, hell me using add 6 add 9 chords and 7ths/9ths sounds almost like too much for uplifting trance.

I'd imagine a lot of the darker progressive trance uses diminished chords every once in a while, though. It's not entirely unlikely

I don't think I've ever heard a diminished chord used in trance, but it certainly could be used. A vii-dim chord is used in a lot of music as a substitute for the V7 because the vii chord contains the same notes, particularly the diminished interval.

For example, if you're in the key of Cmaj, the V7 (dominant) chord is:

G-B-D-F

The diminished fifth interval between the B and F notes is what makes it so dissonant. That same interval is present in the vii chord:

B-D-F

Both chords have a strong tendency to resolve to the I chord because the B wants to resolve upwards to the C and the F wants to resolve down the E (i.e., the root and third of the tonic chord).

The same concept applies to minor keys. The dominant (V7) or vii chord is built on the major 7 note of the scale (from melodic or harmonic minor scale, rather than the natural minor scale, in which the 7th note of the scale is a minor 7 from the root). Again the B-D-F wants to resolve to the tonic, except that the F wants to resolve to the Eb (rather than E-natural), in Cmin.

Another thing to keep in mind is that the chord built on the 2nd note in a minor key (i.e., ii-dim chord) is also dimiinished and has a strong tendency to resolve to the III chord, but rarely used in EDM, pop/rock, etc.

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they are

diminished 7ths as dominant substitutes
diminished as a major chord with a passing non chord tone (#4 - 5)
common tone diminished chords lets say Cdim7 going to C# F# A

Motivic progressions. Try this one.

c eb f# a
c# f# a
d f# a

then repeat starting with d# dimished 7

the chords would be [dim7] of V going to V6/4 going to VI

lots of songs have them but they tend to be more epic as they generally introduce more chord motion and require more chords.

Isnt dimished chords only for major scales ? in which case 99% of trance is made in a minor scales which alone should be the reason why they arent used.

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nope. They are used in both modes with minor being somewhat more prevalent but it doesn't really matter.

quote:

Originally posted by RichieV nope. They are used in both modes with minor being somewhat more prevalent but it doesn't really matter.

I meant major chord, anyways, is there a dimished in either of these ?

http://www.subtleinc.net/picc1.JPG

http://www.subtleinc.net/picc2.JPG

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quote:

Originally posted by Subtle I meant major chord, anyways, is there a dimished in either of these ? http://www.subtleinc.net/picc2.JPG

In the second image, the chord on the 2nd and 4th beats of bar 92 appears to be (from bottom to top):

Ab D C Eb F

Assuming I'm reading it correctly (that's a weird looking piano roll - the notes right above the bass notes looked photoshopped or something). At any rate, the Ab and D create a tritone (diminished 5th/augmented 4th) that you'd find in a diminished chord, but it's not a true diminished7 or half-diminished7 chord. The D-natural note serves more as a pivot note between the C and Eb of the Fmin7 (first inversion) chord.

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quote:

Originally posted by cryophonik In the second image, the chord on the 2nd and 4th beats of bar 92 appears to be (from bottom to top): Ab D C Eb F Assuming I'm reading it correctly (that's a weird looking piano roll - the notes right above the bass notes looked photoshopped or something). At any rate, the Ab and D create a tritone (diminished 5th/augmented 4th) that you'd find in a diminished chord, but it's not a true diminished7 or half-diminished7 chord. The D-natural note serves more as a pivot note between the C and Eb of the Fmin7 (first inversion) chord.

They look that way because the notes above the bass belongs to a different MIDI track in the song, but okey so i was almost using a dimished chord in my track then.

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Off scale notes and trance don't mix so well? Has anyone of you managed to successfully use off scale notes in melody or perhaps in harmony?

If so could you give some examples?

Perhaps a neapolitan sixth or a phygrian cadense!?

Synth1.mp3 - 0.29MB


made something quick to show you all those chords in a simple progression


dim7
half diminished
neapolitan 6
phrygian cadence
augmented chord
dominant 7
minor
major

all those chords are in this simple progression

quote:

Originally posted by RichieV Synth1.mp3 - 0.29MB made something quick to show you all those chords in a simple progression dim7 half diminished neapolitan 6 phrygian cadence augmented chord dominant 7 minor major all those chords are in this simple progression

Well uh sounds somewhat like mozart's requiem. bu but its still more like classical! But well yes some classical tunes can be easily converted to trance like mozart's requiem or bach's air. bu but still?