Diminished chords

Diminished chords are used sparingly (except for ultra modern composers!)because of their harsh sound. For more info on the use of chords, click on the Free Tips tab at the website lauraweed.com
In major scales, they are only found in the VII
chord and should resolve to the I chord, (though some songwriters like to move from the VII chord to the V chord before resolving to the I chord). In minor scales (using a raised leading note), diminished chords are found in both the II and VII chords. Be careful to resolve them to I as quickly as you can (unless you purposely are wanting to call attention to your powerful lyrics). Diminished chords sound like train whistles to me, so I, personally, use them sparingly. When creatingmusic4u,decide whether you want to include a few diminished chords in your songs or leave them out all together. There is no right or wrong answer here. It's totally up to you!