Augmented Triad
A major chord with the top note pushed up one key: C, E and G sharp. Every gap inside it is exactly four half steps, which is why no note sounds like the root and the chord seems to hang in the air.
- 3 notes
- 1 3 #5
- floating
which styles use it
- Jazz
- Film music
- Classical
- Sixties pop
Which notes are in an augmented triad?
A root, four half steps up, and four half steps up again. In C: C, E and G sharp.
- C, the root
- E, the major third
- G sharp, the augmented fifth
Why does it float?
Because all three steps are the same size. C to E is four half steps, E to G sharp is four, and G sharp back up to C is four as well. Together twelve: the octave, cut into three equal pieces.
That has a strange consequence. C, E and G sharp contains exactly the same notes as E, G sharp and C, and as G sharp, C and E. Any of the three can be heard as the root and your ear has no way to decide, because nothing in the chord is asymmetrical enough to give it away. It also means there are only four different augmented triads in the entire system, where there are twelve major and twelve minor ones.
No root means no gravity, and no gravity is exactly the effect you hear.
Where do you find it?
Nowhere in a plain major scale: stack thirds on all seven degrees and an augmented triad never appears. You have to put it there yourself, and there are two usual ways.
The first is as one beat of lift between two ordinary chords, with a single voice climbing while the rest hold still: C, then C augmented, then C6, where the G walks up to G sharp and on to A. That is how most listeners have heard this chord hundreds of times without ever noticing it.
The second is inside harmonic minor, where the raised seventh degree puts one on the third degree. In A harmonic minor that is C, E and G sharp.
Major, minor, diminished or augmented?
Four chords, the same three positions, and each one moves a single note. Play them back to back on the same root before you read the reasons.
- Major (C E G) - Four half steps then three. The blend is closest to the natural overtones, so this is the one that sounds finished.
- Minor (C Eb G) - Three then four, the stacking reversed. The fifth is still perfect, so it is every bit as stable as major, just darker.
- Diminished (C Eb Gb) - Three then three. The outer interval is now a tritone and the chord leans hard on whatever comes next.
- Augmented (C E G sharp) - Four then four. Every gap is identical, so no note can claim to be the root and the chord floats.
Common mistakes
- Holding it too long
The symmetry that makes it interesting also makes it tiring, and with no root there is nothing to settle on. One bar is usually plenty.
- Expecting it to resolve downward
The raised fifth is a note caught halfway through a climb. Pull it back down and the reason for playing the chord disappears.
Keep going
Everything in chords
- Major Triad
- Minor Triad
- Diminished Triad
- Augmented Triad