Edim piano chord, E diminished notes and fingering.

The Edim piano chord is E diminished: the notes E, G and Bb. It is two minor thirds stacked on top of each other. E up to G is three semitones, and G up to Bb is three more, so the fifth (Bb) is lowered to six semitones above the root. Chord charts write it as Edim or E°.

How to play Edim on piano

1. Find E on the keyboard. E is the white key just right of the pair of black keys, the last white key before F.
2. With your right hand, put finger 1 on E, finger 3 on G and finger 5 on Bb. Finger 1 is the thumb.
3. Press all three keys together. In root position they run from E4 to Bb4, a reach of 6 semitones. Play chord sounds them together and Arpeggio sounds them one by one, from the bottom up.
4. Click Left hand to see the left hand. It plays E3 to Bb3, one octave lower: E with finger 5, G with finger 3, Bb with finger 1.
5. The cards under the keyboard hold the three positions, with E, G and Bb at the bottom in turn. Play and Arpeggio on a card play that position.
6. Open Note names. As written the keys read E, G and Bb. Sharps shows E, G and A#, and Flats shows E, G and Bb. This chord is written with flats, so As written and Flats match.

How Edim is built

Counted from the root, the formula is 0, 3, 6. Stacked on each other the gaps are 3 + 3: two minor thirds. Compare it with E minor (E, G and B): the first two notes are the same, and the fifth is lowered one semitone from B to Bb. A perfect fifth is seven semitones; this one is six, and six semitones is a tritone.

Worked example: the pitch of E4. On a piano tuned to A4 = 440 Hz, a note 5 semitones below A4 has the frequency 440 × 2^(-5/12), which is about 329.63 Hz. G4 is 2 semitones below A4, so 440 × 2^(-2/12) gives about 392.00 Hz.

What the keys look like under your hand

E has a black key on its left (Eb) and none on its right, because E and F are only a semitone apart. One of the three notes is a black key (Bb) and two are white keys (E and G). Your little finger plays Bb, a black key with A and B beside it. The little finger is short, so let the hand lean a little toward its edge and aim for the middle of the key.

Edim inversions and fingering

Edim has three positions. In root position E is at the bottom. In the first inversion, G is at the bottom and the chord is written Edim/G. In the second inversion, Bb is at the bottom and the chord is written Edim/Bb. The tightest reach, 6 semitones from the lowest key to the highest, is the root position. The widest, at 9, is the first inversion and second inversion.

The keys that hold Edim

Edim fits two of the major and natural minor keys that have a standard key signature, which means every note of it comes from that key's scale. The simplest is F major, with 1 flat, where it is chord vii°.

Progressions that use Edim, with the chord numbers and the chords in that key:

• F major: IV-vii°-iii-vi, which is Bb, Edim, Am, Dm, a run of falling fifths.
• D minor: ii°-v-i, which is Edim, Am, Dm, the minor ii-V-i, with the natural minor v.
• F major: vii°-I, which is Edim, F, the diminished chord leading up to the tonic.

Here is a worked example in F major. The chord before Edim in the first progression above is Bb (Bb, D and F). From Bb in root position, the closest way to reach Edim is its second inversion (Bb, E and G, lowest note first): one note stays where it is, and the others move 4 semitones in total, counting each note against the note in the same place from the bottom.

Edim also sits inside C7 (C, E, G and Bb): take the root off that dominant 7th and the notes left over are E, G and Bb.

What Edim sounds like

A diminished triad sounds tense and unresolved. It rarely sits still: the usual move is up a semitone to the chord built on F. It is used as a passing chord between two others and as a spice inside a progression.

Edim is the vii° chord in F major and the ii° chord in D minor. It is also chord vii° of F minor, using the raised seventh of the harmonic minor scale.

A common mistake with Edim

A common mistake is pressing B instead of Bb, one semitone higher than the fifth of Edim. That gives Em (E, G and B), a plain minor chord. The top key of Edim is a semitone lower than you might expect, so check it against the chord of the same root.

Chords to learn next

Chords close to Edim: E minor (raises the fifth; shares E and G); C7 (the dominant 7th it sits inside; contains all its notes); F major (the chord it leads to; shares no note); Em7 (adds a minor seventh to the minor chord; shares E and G).

Once Edim feels easy, play it and then F major to hear it resolve upward. For chords beyond these six types, and for guitar and ukulele shapes, use the chord finder. To play along with your computer keys, open the virtual piano. The piano chords page lists all 72 chords.