Aaug7 guitar chord
Root, third and seventh: the guide tones fix the quality, so the fifth is dropped. That is what leaves a string free, so pick a tension to put on top.
- Tap a note to hear it
- Arrows change position
- Fingers, notes or intervals
- Play the chord
About Aaug7 — shell 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.
Aaug7 notes and formula
| A | C# | E# | G |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | ♯5 | ♭7 |
Altered dominant — the pull of a 7, sharpened.
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
Root, third and seventh. The third and seventh, the guide tones, are what make the chord major, minor or dominant, so the fifth can go: it says nothing the symbol needs.
Three notes means a spare string, which is the real point. Put a tension on it.
Aaug7 has 4 of them, on the middle four strings, strings 5-3-2-1 and strings 6-4-3-2, from open position up to the 12th — all in one inversion, so the bass note never moves. The one to learn first is the A shape at the 5th fret, which is the easiest grip here.
Start with x03021 — 2 open strings and only 3 fretted notes. 2 of the 8 shapes here sit in open position. None of them needs a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 1st fret to the 15th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| x03021 | open position | A, root position | E# | 2 open strings |
| x03223 | open position | A, root position | G | 1 open string |
| x05665 | 5th fret | A, root position | A | 1 open string |
| 545x6x | 4th fret | A, root position | E# | all fretted |
| 5x566x | 5th fret | A, root position | E# | all fretted |
| x-x-7-10-8-9 | 7th fret | A, root position | C# | all fretted |
| x-12-11-12-x-13 | 11th fret | A, root position | E# | all fretted |
| x-12-15-12-14-13 | 12th fret | A, root position | E# | all fretted |
The same notes rebuilt from scratch give 14 drop 2, 10 drop 3 and 3 open string voicings, each on its own page.
Tensions. A shell of Aaug7, root, third and seventh, leaves a string free, and the tones that belong over it are the b9 (Bb), the 9 (B), the #9 (B#) and the #11 (D#).
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.
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 a major seventh), A7 (the sharp fifth becomes a fifth), A7b5 (the sharp fifth becomes a 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.
On Aaug7’s sound and use this page follows Mark Levine, The Jazz Theory Book (Sher Music, 1995). The shapes and the derived voicings come from different places, and both are explained in where the chords and the theory come from.