How to Use Augmented Chords on Guitar Video Lecture - The Ultimate Guitar

you probably already know this but
anytime you add a plus to something you
make it that much more awesome which is
why once I reach a hundred thousand subs
I'm changing my name to Shaun plus being
the same thing for a major chord and
that's why I say we're talking about
augmented chords so if you've ever seen
a like on a chord chart or something
like an E chord with a plus on it and
what that actually means is be augmented
and the simple version of that is just a
major chord with a raised fifth but
we're gonna be talking about what that
is how it works and a few song examples
that use it and how you might want to
use it in your own arrangements and
playing okay so when I say it's a raised
fist all that means if we have a major
chord like let's take a okay so an a
major chord like this looks like this
all that is is an a a C sharp and E in
any order there's a lot of different
voicings for that chord now as soon as
we have an A in the C sharp and we take
that need that this and is the fist
because it's specifically in the major
scale from a want to increase for five
if we raise that that can give us an
Augmented triad so we have an a a C
sharp and this raised shift especially
you know some people might call that a
key shot in the dark so that is the
sound of an A augmented chord it's very
closely related to kind of like a
diminished sound which we're going to
talk a little bit about in a second but
I want to talk about the concept of
stacking major thirds on top of each
other okay so again just and then in the
major scale a B c-sharp same thing in
any major scale could be major scale a
major third you can always find I'm
lower strings by going it down a string
and back around okay like AG major chord
those first the lowest two strings
that's the major third now if you go a
major third and Rahma major third kind
of like major third in sessions you get
that right there so this is going to be
the first voicing that we learned this
is gonna be a G augmented
yeah so just take a regular G chord now
we have a G it's major third like we
decided down string back to frat G and B
I usually the D string is open you play
G major chord but now if we take this B
it add a major third there be down
strength back to front it's a first fret
on the D string the G Augmented okay so
you might be like why would I use this
chord by itself it doesn't really sound
that great well there's a couple
different ways you can use it you can
use it to kind of create a tension a
dissonance that is leading you somewhere
or you can also use it in like a passing
transition type thing we're going to
talk about both ways so I think the
first way to kind of illustrate that is
a popular example of it there's a
Beatles song called oh darling that
actually starts with just a that's the
first thing that you hear so it kind of
sets up it's like old tension and then
it gets released okay and where did
julissa's usually when you perceive
whatever the Augmented chord is is the
five chord it takes you back to the one
chord alright so again let's talk about
that in the a major scale one two three
four five and even notes can become
chords so the fifth chord in a the first
chord would be a major second chord B D
minor G sharp minor D major E major
okay so the five chord would be e major
now we can augment that technically
we're going outside of the key right but
what kind of just adding you know how
high is that key create that tension to
bring us back to home or the one chord
alright so that's that Beatle song is a
great example of kind of starting
something out with tension and then
instantly kind of get netic right so it
can kind of serve as almost like a fake
intro just because it instantly is
bringing the song somewhere okay now
another more modern example of how it
can be used in a transitional passing
way is going to be the bridge in the
Shawn Mendes song three empty words okay
it sounds something like this
[Music]
okay so what happened there is that we
just risk and take a C major chord
all right an open voice man C major
chord C is major third Ian we usually
have a G open G is to kinda get that C
major triad right C major now as soon as
we augment that we raise the fifth at g1
Freston C augmented we can keep going
we're going to chromatically walk the g
string from the first open to the first
fret the second fret third fret now if
we do that over a C chord we end up
getting this C major C augmented b6 b7
and again that's kind of like a cool
transitional way to create that tension
to get somewhere where are we going to
the ass okay so that's something that
you can do from a C to an app now we can
kind of take that and use that in
different keys we'd have to think about
how those chords are relative to each
other so again if we take the the notes
in the key of F one two three four five
see again is the five chord that's
another way to take five chord and lead
it back home to a one chord just by a
major Augmented six dominant seven home
alright now another thing I kind of want
to talk about is it to eliminate the
Triad --mess of this to kind of maybe
see the raised fifth in a different
light so let's take that a again and
take the five right here so a and E a
one-in-five is a power chord we're not
worried about the class of it so I can
be major minor this technically is not
going to be an Augmented triad but the
Augmented sound of raising up into
something I want to talk about so if we
just take this a power chord and just go
from the five to the raised five we get
a very kind of dark sound
okay you can kind of do that with any
PowerPoint so you can kind of call that
an Augmented thing again
it's not going to try it it's not
technically but it's kind of got that
raised fifth component into it
now the easiest way it kind of see these
around there is like we said just
stacking major thirds on top of each
other so you can kind of staircase a
chord voicing you can take any root note
on the lower strings you want to make it
a Augmented it just take that we grabbed
this major third so 5e for a 3d you can
even move that down a string this is a
movable shape this D augmented now if
you want to get maybe a fuller sounding
one you can start adding an octave of
the root note so for this D augmented
chord right here I'm getting five a four
D 3G I'm kind of barring to grab another
D you so I have an octave D right there
kind of get a little fuller sound
okay the real interesting thing about
this and this is something that kinda
like I said we're going to talk a little
bit about diminished chords is so my
video on diminished 7th chords these
guys right here
[Music]
they're they're movable in a way where
they can be perceived as different
chords alright and again so we take a
key a major third for me now we haven't
talked about major thirds as far as
going on different strings if we stay on
the same string and played a major third
higher than E we would go four frets
okay because we've got major skills
whole whole half whole whole half so
that you really don't you don't know but
uh for front tire on the same string is
going to give you a major third so if we
stack that go four frets higher from
here go from open to four to eight now
if we go for price higher from there
right back where we started on another
occasion
so the notes of an e augmented chord ve
G sharp C you keep going e G sharp C you
now what if we wanted to play like a G
sharp Augmented chord all right we start
at the G sharp we go four frets higher
well there's a C go for photographer
there there's an e for retire again I
get this back to G sharp so really when
you have an Augmented triad any one of
those notes can be the root note of the
chord because it's just a different
order the root note would just be lowest
so again if we take this let's do the
next inversion of that it's going to
look at it like that way the Augmented
chord again my root note I'm thinking of
this 3 a 2 D and 1 G we go four frets
higher do an Augmented chord four foot
higher from that right there G sharp
dude II
G sharp it's all really the same chord
it's just which note is lowest and a lot
of times on guitar the bass known the
lowest note is going to be perceived as
the root note well it's just something
that you might want to think about so a
lot of times you'll see that people will
relate augmented chords to major chords
but I think a really cool thing to do is
that you relate them to a minor chord so
let's take this one right here I've
mended one we did earlier right
just staircase in it up seven a fixed IV
a lot of people will be like okay well
I'm just leaving back to an a major
which is true you definitely hear that
attention Ruiz what I think is kind of
cool is when I see this shape what I'm
actually thinking I'm thinking more
minor right until like a minor chord
could be like a minor would be seven a
seventy five a minor the Augmented so
you can really inflect that when an E
minor chord is G minor Amenti augment
just kind of gives a cool vibe so a few
different ways to use augmented quarters
remember they're just major thirds
stacked on top of each other a lot of
times traditionally they'll be used on
the 5 chord as a transition to give back
to the 1 chord but really once you kind
of see how they're laid out I use them
however you want however you think it's
on school try to be creative with them
and if you have any questions or
comments hit me up in the comments
section Instagram Twitter or the website
and I'll talk to you soon thanks a lot