Faug guitar chord
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About Faug — 1st inversion
Faug is F, A and C# — F 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.
Faug notes and formula
| F | A | C# |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | ♯5 |
Passing chord — it belongs to no key in particular.
Also written F+, F(#5) or F augmented. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play Faug
Faug in 1st inversion puts A in the bass instead of F, 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 Faug’s 9 common shapes does this: xx7665.
Start with xx3221 — down at the nut. None of the shapes for Faug 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 15th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1x3221 | 1st fret | F, root position | F | all fretted |
| xx3221 | 1st fret | F, root position | F | all fretted |
| xx7665 | 5th fret | A, 1st inversion | A | all fretted |
| x8766x | 6th fret | F, root position | F | all fretted |
| x-8-x-10-10-9 | 8th fret | F, root position | C# | all fretted |
| x-8-11-10-10-x | 8th fret | F, root position | A | all fretted |
| x-x-x-10-10-9 | 9th fret | F, root position | C# | all fretted |
| 13-12-11-10-10-x | 10th fret | F, root position | A | all fretted |
| x-x-15-14-14-13 | 13th fret | F, root position | F | all fretted |
The same notes rebuilt from scratch give 45 triad voicings, each on its own page.
What to play over Faug
Every note of Faug is in F whole tone and F altered.
Chords near Faug
Change one note of Faug and you have F (the sharp fifth becomes a fifth), Fmaj7#5 (add the major seventh), Faug7 (add the flat seventh), F/A (the sharp fifth becomes a fifth) or F/C (the sharp fifth becomes a fifth).
Faug is a augmented chord — root, major third, sharp fifth. Augmented chords on every root.
On Faug’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.