How to use augmented chords musically on guitar - Transforming major to augmented - FREE PDF!
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The augmented triad sounds almost wrong on its own — but dropped into a line of chords it becomes hauntingly beautiful, giving a song a climbing, ear-grabbing lift. Here's how to build it and use it across the neck.
What you'll learn
- To make any major chord augmented, raise the 5th a half step — root and 3rd stay put
- The magic is the climbing inner line: 5 → ♯5 → 6 → ♭7
- You can augment the open CAGED chords by moving the 5th up the neck
- Isolate a few strings with a drone instead of strumming everything
How to build an augmented chord
Take any major chord, find the fifth, and raise it one fret (a half step). The root and third stay where they are. On a D chord, the A on the G string is the fifth — move it up and you get D augmented.
If you know Eddie Money's "Baby Hold On," the verse is basically D to D augmented over and over before it climbs. That climb is what makes the chord beautiful: play D, raise the fifth to the ♯5 (augmented), then up to the 6th (B), then one more half step to C — which gives you a D7 in a different inversion. From there a D7 typically moves to G (the IV in the key of D), and that G often turns into a G minor on the way back home.
Augmenting the open CAGED chords
The same idea works on the open C, A, G, E and D shapes — you just have to find the fifth in each. In C, the fifth is the open G string; raise it to G♯, then keep climbing to the 6th and the ♭7, and resolve through F minor back to C.
On an A chord there are two fifths; take the one on the D string and raise it to E♯ (it's a sharped five, not an F), giving A augmented, then A6 and A7. On G, the fifth is the open D string. On E, there are three roots and two fifths, so drop one fifth and raise the open B to B♯, then up to C♯ for the 6th and on to E7.
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Don't strum everything — isolate strings
When a line is moving through a chord like this, get out of the habit of strumming the whole guitar. Isolate three or four strings, often over a droning bass note, and add a little palm muting. It keeps the moving inner line clear and gives the part a tighter, more intentional sound.
Vamps and closed-voice triads
A vamp is a figure you repeat while something else gets set up. Adam's favorite "Broadway vamp" uses an open-voice triad — a bit of a stretch, but a great sound — moving the fifth up to the ♯5, back to the fifth, up to the 6th, then the ♭7.
You can also use closed-voice triads, where the whole triad is squeezed into one octave, on the top three strings (string set one). Take an A triad, raise the E to E♯ for the augmented sound, then up to the 6th and ♭7. Any time the line moves upward like this, it builds excitement and pulls the listener in.
