Augmented Chord

An augmented chord is a triad has a major 2nd interval and an augmented or sharp 5th interval.

For instance, a C-Aug chord has the notes C, E, G#, an A-Aug chord has the notes A, C#, F, G, and so on.  The Swars are Sa Ga dha.

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Augmented chords do not sound pleasant, primarily because of the augmented 5th interval (Sa to komal dha). Try playing these 2 notes on a guitar or keyboard at the same time and it will sound terrible! Augmented chords have an interesting characteristic like diminished 7th chords.

As the notes are separated 2 semitones each, C-Aug (C, E, G#) will sound the same as E-Aug (E, G#, A), and G#-Aug (G#, C, E, as they all contain the same notes. Similarly, diminished 7th chords have 4 notes separated by 3 semitones each, and so C-dim7 (C, Eb, Gb, Bb) is equivalent to Ebdim7, Gbdim7 and Bbdim7.

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Augmented chords are often used as passing chords. For instance, if you want to move from a C chord to Am, you could play the progression C to C-Aug to Am to make it more interesting. If you look at the notes in the chords, C and E notes remain the same in all 3 chords, while G moves to G# to A.

This is very effectively used in melodies where the vocals could be staying on the note C for some time, while the instruments playing the harmony lines and chords build in the movement from G# to A. Check out the examples below!

Common Positions