Originally Posted by: zreynoldsppo-tay-toe / po-tah-toe

A half diminished chord or a m7b5 chord are the same thing...
[/quote]
LOL. Right you are.

However, for the benefit of those that might be taking music theory classes. In classical & "formal" settings the "proper" name is half diminished. And if that's not enough hair splitting for you, jazz guys sometimes refuse to acknowledge the name half diminished, preferring min7flat5.

One jazz guy (friend of mine) explains it by asking, "Which half is diminished? How can you halve a chord?" :rolleyes:

Personally, I say either is acceptable, except in a voice leading context - if the voices of next chord follow "properly", then it could be better to call it a half diminished. If the voices don't exactly, I'd say min7flat5.

That helps me to conceptually keep them "unique".
[QUOTE=zreynoldsp]
The only way I can cope is to only use the word 'diminished' when I really mean it - if an alternate exists for another variant that is further away, I'll go with that....

Good idea! That way each one has a "unique" tag. Hope that works for you.