B diminished arpeggio on 5-string bass

B · D · F

The course explains what this page shows in Lesson 9 · The triad.

The notes

  1. B1
  2. D♭3
  3. F♭5

The B diminished arpeggio is B, D, F.

You may also see it called 1 ♭3 ♭5.

On the staff

BCDEFGAB

On a bass staff, the B diminished arpeggio is written B D F.

The solid notes are the B diminished arpeggio. The pale notes are the rest of B locrian, the larger scale it is carved out of, so you can see which notes it leaves out.

Why the B diminished arpeggio has no sharps or flats

  1. B1
  2. T+S
  3. D♭3
  4. T+S
  5. F♭5
  6. 6
  7. B8

A scale is a pattern of steps, and this one is T+S T+S 6: a tone and a half, a tone and a half, 6, and so on. T+S stands for a tone and a half, which is three semitones. 6 stands for a step of six semitones. The pattern is what gives B diminished its sound, and it stays the same whichever note you start on.

This scale has only three notes, so it does not use every letter. It is B locrian with some notes taken out, and it keeps that scale's spelling exactly.

Every letter already falls where the pattern needs it, so B diminished is written with no sharps or flats at all.

The B diminished arpeggio needs no sharps or flats, because every letter already falls where the T+S T+S 6 pattern of steps needs it.

The pattern of steps is the part of a scale that never changes. The letter names take sharps or flats to fit that pattern, and a key signature is a record of those sharps or flats.

On the piano

♭2C♭3D4E♭5F♭6G♭7A1B♭2C♭3D4E♭5F♭6G♭7A1B♭2C♭3D4E♭5F♭6G♭7A1B♭2C♭3D4E♭5F♭6G♭7A1B♭2CC♯D♯F♯G♯A♯C♯D♯F♯G♯A♯C♯D♯F♯G♯A♯C♯D♯F♯G♯A♯C0C1C2C3C4

The keyboard shows the same three notes as a shape you can see. The coloured keys are the B diminished arpeggio, the pale keys are the rest of B locrian, and you can click any key to hear it.

B diminished arpeggio on the whole neck

BEADG123456789101112131415B1D♭3F♭5B1D♭3F♭5B1D♭3F♭5B1D♭3F♭5B1D♭3F♭5B1D♭3F♭5B1D♭3F♭5

28 notes of the B diminished arpeggio are marked across five strings.

This is every place the notes of the B diminished arpeggio fall on the 5-string bass, with each note's name and its scale degree. The roots are marked so you can find your bearings.

Position by position

Position 1 — starts on the ♭3
BEADG345678♭3♭51♭3♭51♭3
Position 2 — starts on the ♭5
BEADG67891011♭51♭3♭51♭3♭5
Position 3 — starts on the 1
BEADG1213141516171♭3♭51♭3♭51

The B diminished arpeggio has three playable positions, at frets 3–7, 6–10 and 12–16.

Each shape starts on a different degree of the scale and fits inside five frets, so your hand can play all of it without moving.

One climb up the neck

BEADG123456781♭3♭51♭3♭51♭3TAB03125347

The climb runs from fret 0 to fret 7 and plays eight notes.

This is one path from the lowest root to the top of the neck, and it plays each note once, never on two strings. It takes a different number of notes on different strings. The widest stretch on any one string is three frets.