Eaug guitar chord
- Tap a note to hear it
- Arrows change position
- Fingers, notes or intervals
- Play the chord
About Eaug — 1st inversion
Eaug is E, G# and B# — E 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.
Eaug notes and formula
| E | G# | B# |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | ♯5 |
Passing chord — it belongs to no key in particular.
Also written E+, E(#5) or E augmented. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play Eaug
Eaug in 1st inversion puts G# in the bass instead of E, 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 Eaug’s 10 common shapes does this: xx6554.
Start with xx211x — only 3 fretted notes and down at the nut. 1 of the 10 shapes here sits in open position. None of them needs a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 1st fret to the 14th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| xx211x | 1st fret | E, root position | B# | all fretted |
| 032110 | open position | E, root position | E | 2 open strings |
| xx6554 | 4th fret | G#, 1st inversion | G# | all fretted |
| x7655x | 5th fret | E, root position | E | all fretted |
| x7x998 | 7th fret | E, root position | B# | all fretted |
| x-7-10-9-9-x | 7th fret | E, root position | G# | all fretted |
| xxx998 | 8th fret | E, root position | B# | all fretted |
| 12-11-10-9-9-0 | 9th fret | E, root position | G# | 1 open string |
| 12-x-14-13-13-12 | 12th fret | E, root position | E | all fretted |
| x-x-14-13-13-12 | 12th fret | E, root position | E | all fretted |
The same notes rebuilt from scratch give 46 triad voicings, each on its own page.
What to play over Eaug
Every note of Eaug is in E whole tone and E altered.
Chords near Eaug
Change one note of Eaug and you have E (the sharp fifth becomes a fifth), Emaj7#5 (add the major seventh), Eaug7 (add the flat seventh), E/G# (the sharp fifth becomes a fifth) or E/B (the sharp fifth becomes a fifth).
Eaug is a augmented chord — root, major third, sharp fifth. Augmented chords on every root.
On Eaug’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.