Inject some drama into your compositions with the sweetly painful augmented chord

No music theory course would be complete without an examination of the augmented chord, which is a major triad - 1 3 5 - with a raised, or “sharped,” fifth - 1 3 #5 - as signified by the word augmented, which means increased or expanded. In the next few lessons, I’d like to briefly cover the theoretical basis of this occasionally used and somewhat painful- yet sweet-sounding chord and cite a few examples of ways in which musicians have famously employed it for dramatic effect.

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Jimmy Brown

Over the past 30 years, Jimmy Brown has built a reputation as one of the world's finest music educators, through his work as a transcriber and Senior Music Editor for Guitar World magazine and Lessons Editor for its sister publication, Guitar Player. In addition to these roles, Jimmy is also a busy working musician, performing regularly in the greater New York City area. Jimmy earned a Bachelor of Music degree in Jazz Studies and Performance and Music Management from William Paterson University in 1989. He is also an experienced private guitar teacher and an accomplished writer.