Abaug7 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
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- Fingers, notes or intervals
- Play the chord
About Abaug7 — shell voicings
Abaug7 is Ab, C, E and Gb — Ab7 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.
Abaug7 notes and formula
| Ab | C | E | Gb |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | ♯5 | ♭7 |
Altered dominant — the pull of a 7, sharpened.
Also written Ab7#5, Ab+7 or Ab7(#5). The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play Abaug7
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.
Abaug7 has 2 of them, on strings 6-4-3-2 and strings 5-3-2-1, from the 4th fret up to the 11th — all in one inversion, so the bass note never moves. The one to learn first is the Ab shape at the 4th fret.
Start with 434x5x — low, at the 3rd fret. 1 of the 6 shapes here sits in open position. None of them needs a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 3rd fret to the 14th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4x4550 | open position | Ab, root position | E | 1 open string |
| 434x5x | 3rd fret | Ab, root position | E | all fretted |
| xx6978 | 6th fret | Ab, root position | C | all fretted |
| x-11-10-11-9-0 | 9th fret | Ab, root position | Ab | 1 open string |
| x-11-10-11-x-12 | 10th fret | Ab, root position | E | all fretted |
| x-11-14-11-13-12 | 11th fret | Ab, root position | E | all fretted |
The same notes rebuilt from scratch give 14 drop 2, 9 drop 3 and 6 open string voicings, each on its own page.
Tensions. A shell of Abaug7, root, third and seventh, leaves a string free, and the tones that belong over it are the b9 (Bbb), the 9 (Bb), the #9 (B) and the #11 (D).
How to use Abaug7
Abaug7 is a dominant with its tension raised, so it still points at Db — harder than a plain seventh does, because the altered tones sit a semitone from where they are going.
What to play over Abaug7
Every note of Abaug7 is in Ab whole tone and Ab altered.
Chords near Abaug7
Change one note of Abaug7 and you have Abmaj7#5 (the flat seventh becomes a major seventh), Ab7 (the sharp fifth becomes a fifth), Ab7b5 (the sharp fifth becomes a flat fifth), Abalt (add the flat ninth), Abaug (drop the flat seventh) or Abaug9 (add the ninth).
Abaug7 is an altered chord — a dominant seventh with its fifth or ninth moved. Altered dominant chords on every root.
On Abaug7’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.