Diminished Chords - Blocked or Arpeggiated

[theodore]

Is there a good technique for learning the diminished chord without looking?
My eyes constantly look for the patterns and I also memorize the first and last notes.

The diminished chord has 4 notes plus the octave. Trying to calculate the minor thirds is tedious and time consuming.

Any ideas...

Theodore

[oscarr111111]

The diminished 7th chord only exists in 3 different versions, the rest are all inversions of those 3.

I'd just learn the shapes and the inversions, since there are so few of them anyway.

[counterpoint]

Yes, one with D# and F#
one with C# and A#
and one with only G#

all other keys are WHITE 

[ail]

If you want an easy way to find them, pick a starting note. Then, count 3 semitones up and you have the next note. Repeat until you get 4 keys (or get back to the same note an octave up).

I some time ago made a list of interval signatures. It helped me greatly in figuring what kind of chord I have before me, and consequently in analysing. there 12 semitones in the scale.
So, a major chord is defined by this signature

4-3-5

meaning 4 semitones between the first and the second note, 3 between the 2nd and the 3rd, 5 between the 3rd and the 1st again (one octave up).

The minor is

3-4-5

and the diminished is

3-3-3-3

I have a larger list, but these are the basics anyway, and anyone can make this kind of calculations.

Alex