Aaug7 guitar chord
An open string left ringing against a fretted grip. Because it costs no finger, it sounds a note the closed shape has none left for -- a tension on top, or a pedal root underneath. Either a familiar grip with open strings added, or a shape so sparse the open strings carry the chord. These belong to their key rather than to a shape, so D, A, G and E have many and Eb a handful.
- Tap a note to hear it
- Arrows change position
- Fingers, notes or intervals
- Play the chord
About Aaug7 — open string voicings
Aaug7 is A, C#, E# and G — A7 with the fifth raised a semitone.
It sounds strained and chromatic. The raised fifth is heard as a ♭13 sitting a semitone above where it is going, so the chord pushes harder than a plain dominant.
Altered dominant — the pull of a 7, sharpened.
Aaug7 notes and formula
| A | C# | E# | G |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | ♯5 | ♭7 |
Also written A7#5, A+7 or A7(#5). The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play Aaug7
An open string left ringing against a fretted grip. It costs no finger, so it can sound a note the closed shape has none left for: a tension on top, or a pedal root underneath.
These belong to their key rather than to a shape: they cannot be moved up the neck. D, A, G and E have many; E♭ has a handful.
Aaug7 has 3 of them, on strings 6-5-4-3-2 and the middle four strings, from the 2nd fret up to the 3rd — every inversion the chord has: A in the bass, C# in the bass and G in the bass. The one to learn first is the G shape at the 2nd fret, which is the easiest grip here.
Play Aaug7 as a shell — root, third and seventh — and the spare string takes the b9 (Bb), the 9 (B), the #9 (B#) or the #11 (D#).
All 8 common shapes as fret numbers, lowest string first. Hover or tap one to see it drawn.
- x03021, open position, A, root position, top note E#, 2 open strings
- x03223, open position, A, root position, top note G, 1 open string
- x05665, 5th fret, A, root position, top note A, 1 open string
- 545x6x, 4th fret, A, root position, top note E#, all fretted
- 5x566x, 5th fret, A, root position, top note E#, all fretted
- x-x-7-10-8-9, 7th fret, A, root position, top note C#, all fretted
- x-12-11-12-x-13, 11th fret, A, root position, top note E#, all fretted
- x-12-15-12-14-13, 12th fret, A, root position, top note E#, all fretted
How to use Aaug7
Aaug7 is a dominant with its tension raised, so it still points at D — harder than a plain seventh does, because the altered tones sit a semitone from where they are going.
In a phrase:Em7→Aaug7→Dmaj7— the ii–V–I of D.
Voice by voice, Aaug7 → D. 3 voices move by a semitone, and one note is common to both chords.
| In Aaug7 | Moves | In D |
|---|---|---|
| A, the root | stays where it is | A, the fifth |
| C#, the major third | rises a semitone | D, the root |
| E#, the sharp fifth | rises a semitone | F#, the major third |
| G, the flat seventh | falls a semitone | F#, the major third |
What to play over Aaug7
Every note of Aaug7 is in A whole tone and A altered.
Chords near Aaug7
Change one note of Aaug7 and you have Amaj7#5 (the flat seventh becomes the major seventh), A7 (the sharp fifth becomes the fifth), A7b5 (the sharp fifth becomes the flat fifth), Aalt (add the flat ninth), Aaug (drop the flat seventh) or Aaug9 (add the ninth).
Aaug7 is an altered chord — a dominant seventh with its fifth or ninth moved. Altered dominant chords on every root.
The common shapes and the derived voicings come from different places, and both are explained in how this site is built.