Abaug guitar chord
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About Abaug — 1st inversion
Abaug is Ab, C and E — Ab with the fifth raised a semitone.
It sounds stretched, and suspended between keys. Its commonest job is passing between a major triad and its sixth or seventh, with the raised fifth as a single voice walking up.
Abaug notes and formula
| Ab | C | E |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | ♯5 |
Passing chord — it belongs to no key in particular.
Also written Ab+, Ab(#5) or Ab augmented. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play Abaug
Abaug in 1st inversion puts C in the bass instead of Ab, the 3rd of the chord. The notes are the same; what changes is what the bass line does, which is most of why you would reach for it — it lets the lowest voice move by step where the root would have jumped.
One of Abaug’s 8 common shapes does this: x-x-10-9-9-8.
Start with xx6554 — low, at the 4th fret. None of the shapes for Abaug uses an open string, so every one of them is movable; the lowest sits at the 1st fret. None of them needs a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 1st fret to the 14th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 43211x | 1st fret | Ab, root position | C | all fretted |
| 4x6554 | 4th fret | Ab, root position | Ab | all fretted |
| xx6554 | 4th fret | Ab, root position | Ab | all fretted |
| x-x-10-9-9-8 | 8th fret | C, 1st inversion | C | all fretted |
| x-11-10-9-9-x | 9th fret | Ab, root position | Ab | all fretted |
| x-11-x-13-13-12 | 11th fret | Ab, root position | E | all fretted |
| x-11-14-13-13-x | 11th fret | Ab, root position | C | all fretted |
| x-x-x-13-13-12 | 12th fret | Ab, root position | E | all fretted |
The same notes rebuilt from scratch give 46 triad voicings, each on its own page.
What to play over Abaug
Every note of Abaug is in Ab whole tone and Ab altered.
Chords near Abaug
Change one note of Abaug and you have Ab (the sharp fifth becomes a fifth), Abmaj7#5 (add the major seventh) or Abaug7 (add the flat seventh).
Abaug is a augmented chord — root, major third, sharp fifth. Augmented chords on every root.
On Abaug’s sound and use this page follows Stefan Kostka, Dorothy Payne & Byron Almén, Tonal Harmony (McGraw-Hill, 8th ed., 2018). The shapes and the derived voicings come from different places, and both are explained in where the chords and the theory come from.