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Guitar Chords Ain’t Sexy But The Results Rock, The Mighty Augmented Chord

By Mike Hayes | January 7, 2010

Augmented chords are part of the very basic set of chords you
should know on the guitar. The other chord types are major, minor
and diminished, these chords together with the augmented chord
are your basic triads (three note chords).

Many guitarists often overlook the fact that triads are not just
for beginners they are the musical building blocks that even the
most advanced fingerboard wizards use to create complex sounding
harmonies.

Guitar players are familiar with major and minor triads but when
it comes to the augmented and diminished chords they head for the
nearest exit.

What if there was an easy way to learn and remember all types of
chords over the entire fingerboard? What if learning the
augmented and diminished triads was just as easy as the major and
minor chords.

The good news is there are many ways to approach learning chords
on the guitar; here is just one of the ways to learn augmented
triads.

Learning augmented chords:

The musical shorthand way of writing and Augmented chord is C+

Step 1. The spelling of the C+ chord is C-E-G#

We arrived at this answer by applying the augmented chord formula
of 1-3-#5 to the C major scale.

C major scale = C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C

Augmented chord formula 1-3-#5

To arrive at C-E-G# = C+

The concept of the augmented triad having a sharpened fifth is
easy to remember if we think of the meaning of the word ‘augment’
to ‘add’; in this instance to sharpen or increase the tension of
the fifth note of the major triad.

Step 2. create string grids

String grids are combinations of strings e.g., string grid one
would be strings 1,2 & 3; string grid two would be strings 2, 3 &
4 etc., here is a list of the common string grids used for
augmented triads.

grid 1 = strings 1, 2 & 3

grid 2 = strings 2, 3 & 4

grid 3 = strings 3, 4 & 5

grid 4 = strings 4, 5 & 6

Since the augmented chord consists of three notes and each of our
grids has three strings it stands to reason that there would be
three ways of playing the C+ chord on each string grid.
That’s twelve new ways to play the chord instantly.

Here is how it looks on the guitar:

String set 1 = strings 1, 2 & 3 (chord 1)

C+

—4——
—5——
–[5]—–
———-
———-
———-

Keynote or root note indicated [ ].

String set 1 = strings 1, 2 & 3 (chord 2)

C+

–[8]—-
—9—–
—9—–
———
———
———

Notice how the keynote has moved to the first string for this
shape.

String set 1 = strings 1, 2 & 3 (chord 3)

C+

—12—–
–[13]—-
—13—–
———-
———-
———-

Now the keynote has moved to string two!

The same C+ chord transferred to the second string grid
would convert to the following shapes.

String grid 2 = strings 2, 3 & 4 (chord 1)

C+

———-
—5——
–[5]—–
—6——
———-
———-

String grid 2 = strings 2, 3 & 4 (chord 2)

C+

——–
—9—-
—9—-
-[10]—
——–
——–

String grid 2 = strings 2, 3 & 4 (chord 3)

C+

———-
–[13]—-
—13—–
—14—–
———-
———-

If you find some of the chord shapes difficult to play higher up
the fretboard of your guitar simply drop the chord down one
octave by subtracting the number twelve from the problem shape.

The same shape as the last chord we played in string grid 2 only
dropped down one octave would be played like this …

String grid 2 = 2, 3 & 4 strings (chord 3) optional version

C+

——–
—1—-
—1—-
—2—-
——–
——–

The whole point about learning new chords on the guitar is to
increase your musical vocabulary so you can better express
yourself musically on your instrument.

Try using the C+ to link a C chord to an F like this:

C /// | C+ /// | F //// | F /// |

On the guitar one way you could play this would be …

C

—3——
—5——
–[5]—–
———-
———-
———-

C+

—4——
—5——
–[5]—–
———-
———-
———-

F

—5——
–[6]—–
—5——
———-
———-
———-

That’s one solution how about a few from you, remember there are
augmented chords all over the fingerboard of the guitar.

And now I’d like to invite you to get free access to my “How To
Remember 1,000 Songs” eCourse. You can download the course for
free at: http://www.guitarcoaching.com

You’ll learn about hit song templates, easy chords,simple scales, red hot rhythms, and successful practice strategies in text, audio and video.

From Mike Hayes – The Guitar Coaching Guy & the Express Guitar
System

Topics: Beginner Guitar Lesson, Guitar Chords, Guitar Fretboard, Guitar Tips | No Comments »

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