Augmented Chords on Piano – Learn How To Form Them Easily

In this lesson, you will learn how to play every single augmented chord.

One way to form an augmented chord is to play a major chord (in root position) and to play the third note in that chord a half step higher. For example, play the chord, C major whose notes are C, E and G. To form the augmented, simply play the note, G a half step higher. In other words, change G to G#. The notes of C augmented are therefore, C, E and G#. This chord is written like this: Caug or C+.

Try it with the D major chord. Play the notes, D, F# and A, then play A a half step (or semitone) higher, resulting in D, F# and A#. D, F# and A# played together is a Daug chord.

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Or how about Eaug? Play the E major chord whose notes are E, G# and B, then raise the third note of the chord by a half step. The notes of the E augmented chord are therefore E, G# and B#(C).

Try this with every major chord. This is what your augmented chords should look like.

C augmented: C-E-G#
C# augmented: C#-E#-G##(A)
D augmented: D-F#-A#
Eb augmented: Eb-G-B
E augmented: E-G#-B#(C)
F augmented: F-A-C#
F# augmented: F#-A#-C##(D)
G augmented: G-B-D#
Ab augmented: Ab-C-E
A augmented: A-C#-E#(F).
Bb augmented: Bb-D-F#
B augmented: B-D#-F##(G)

Augmented Chords

You can form augmented chords by skipping keys. Simply play a key, skip three keys, play a key skip three keys and play a key. For instance, play the note, C, skip three keys (C#, D and D#) play E, skip three keys again (F, F# and G) and play G#. C-E-G# is a Caug chord.

To play the chord, Faug, play F, skip three keys (F#, G and G#), play A, skip three keys (A#, B and C) and play C#. The notes of the F augmented chord are F-A-C#.

Try a Gaug chord. Play G, skip three keys (G#, A and A#), play B, skip three keys (C, C# and D) and play D#. The notes of the G+ chord are G-B-D#.

Practice the augmented chords with your left hand as well.

So as I said, you can form augmented chords in different ways. One way is by skipping keys, as we just saw. Simply play a key, skip three keys, play a key skip three keys and play a key. Or you can think of this chord in terms of a major chord (in root position) with its third note raised by a half step.

In terms of the major scale, an augmented chord combines notes 1, 2 and sharp 5. For example, the notes of the C major scale are C D E F G A B. To form the chord, C augmented, you combine note 1 of that scale, C, note 3, E and the sharp fifth, G#. Instead of playing the fifth note of the scale, you raise it by a half step and play G#.

After you practice playing each hand separately, play both hands together. Simply go up the scale in a chromatic manner. In other words, play Caug, followed by C#aug, followed by Daug, followed by D#aug and so on.

To learn more, get my piano chords book on Amazon or take my piano chords course on Udemy. All the best.