Augmented chord

A chord built from a root, a major third and a raised fifth, which sounds unresolved and ambiguous.

Raising the fifth removes the stable consonance of the perfect fifth, so an augmented chord sounds as though it is leaning without a clear destination. Like the diminished chord it is symmetrical, made of stacked major thirds, so it repeats every four frets on the fretboard. It is uncommon in everyday guitar playing but appears in jazz, in Beatles-era pop and in film music, where its ambiguity is used to create unease or to pivot between keys.

Example: A chord containing a root, a major third and a raised fifth, such as C, E and G sharp, is augmented.

Augmented chord

See also