The Pepper of a Musical Meal: Augmented Chords
Augmented Chords – Adding Spice To a Song
Augmented chords are to a piece of music like pepper is to a meal; you would never sit down to a meal of pepper alone, but you might sprinkle a little on your food to liven up the taste a bit.
Augmented triads (triads are 3-note chords) are one of the 4 basic chord types, yet they are used very little compared to major and minor chords.
There are four basic kinds of triads in music:
Major triads: composed of the root, major 3rd, and perfect 5th of a major scale.
Minor triads: composed of the root, minor 3rd, and perfect 5th of a major scale.
Diminished triads: composed of the root, minor 3rd, and diminished 5th of a major scale.
Augmented triads: composed of the root, major 3rd, and augmented 5th of a major scale.
Here are the 12 augmented triads:
C aug: C, E, G#
F aug: F, A, C#
G aug: G, B, D#
D aug: D, F#, A#
E aug: E, G#, B# (enharmonic with C)
A aug: A, C#, E# (enharmonic with F)
Db aug: Db, F, A
Eb aug: Eb, G, B
Ab aug: Ab, C, E
Gb aug: Gb, Bb, D
Bb aug: Bb, D, F#
B aug: B, D#, Fx (F double-sharp, which is enharmonic with G)
So like diminished chords, augmented chords are used to add spice to your musical meal. You don’t linger on them, but use them as transition chords between a major and another major chord, or between a major and a minor chord, or sometimes even between two minor chords.
As you play various songs, look for opportunities to use augmented triads as transition chords. And just like pepper is to a meal of food, so augmented triads are to a musical meal.
Click here to go to the web page on augmented chords: https://www.playpiano.com/Articles/20-augmentedtriads.htm
Click here to go to the video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnUe3erE7wI
***For lots more good stuff on piano playing come on over to my website at https://www.playpiano.com and sign up for our free piano tips – “Exciting Piano Chords & Sizzling Chord Progressions!”
Here’s a great little book on chords and chord progressions on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Piano-Chords-Chord-Progressions-Exciting-ebook/dp/B0076OUGDE/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1404158669&sr=1-1&keywords=piano+chords+duane+shinn
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