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Step 1
Determine what your root note is going to be. Every octave has 8 main notes with the eighth note being a repetition of the first. Because a chord builds on top of a root note, you must determine what that note is before building the other pieces. For these purposes we will make it a "C" since "Middle C" is easy to find on a piano.
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Step 2
Place a minor third on top of the root note. In this example, this would be E flat. To come to that result, look to a piano. From one white key to another is considered 1 step. The black key in between is considered a half step. If there is no black key in between as happens between the E and F key and the B and C key, then that is considered a half step. So start with C and form a minor third by counting one and one half steps. You land on E flat.
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Step 3
Add a diminished fifth on top of your C and E flat. A diminished chord in music is when you place 2 one and one half steps on top of each other. Look to the keyboard, count the same number of steps and you arrive at G flat.
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Step 4
Finish the chord by adding a minor seventh on top of the other 3 notes. In this example, that is a B flat. A minor chord occurs when you place 2 full steps from the middle note to the last note in a chord. Therefore, this chord is only half-diminished since you are playing 2 minor notes and 1 diminished note in the chord of 4 notes.
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Step 5
Experiment with different half diminished 7 chords on the guitar. There are literally hundreds of combinations of these chords. Just remember to use a root note, count 1 1/2, count 1 1/2 again and finish with 2 full steps.
