Ah, the augmented triads: dissonant like nothing else, and the least used triads in music.
Whenever I show augmented chords to some new players the scene goes like:
Teacher: “Now play this shape here” Student: “Ok” -strummmm- “Oh, yuck!! This sounds horrible!”
And it’s true that by themselves augmented chords sound horrible.
But in the right chord progressions they may sound great! It’s all a matter of putting the “right” chords before and after.
Indeed, if you know what you are doing you can even put an augmented chord in a pop song, and none would be the wiser.
Wanna see that?
Here are 3 ways to make augmented triads sound so smooth you won’t notice you played them:
But it does not end here! You can use augmented triads in a variety of way – just like you can use major or minor triad in a variety of ways.
For instance, here you can see how to modulate to strange keys using an augmented triad. Metal people? You want this sound:
And if your appetite for destruction… erm, dissonance is not satiated yet…
… in this video we boldly go way way further than you may imagine in using augmented chords. These sounds are super-new, grab them before other composers find them?
Have fun!
