About F#aug — triad voicings
F#aug is F#, A# and D — 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.
Passing chord — it belongs to no key in particular.
F#aug notes and formula
| F# | A# | D |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | ♯5 |
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 F#aug
Three notes on one string set. No seventh, so nothing is claimed about the chord beyond its quality.
Thin on their own, excellent over a bass line or against someone else’s harmony.
F#aug has 45 of them, on the bottom three strings, the bottom four strings, the top three strings, the top four strings, the high-middle three, the low-middle three, the middle four strings, strings 5-3-2-1 and strings 6-4-3-2, from open position up to the 14th — every inversion the chord has: F# in the bass, A# in the bass and C## in the bass. The one to learn first is the F# shape at the nut, which is the easiest grip here.
6 of them sit on the bottom four strings, so you can run the inversions up one set without changing strings — which is the whole reason to learn them as a family rather than as separate grips.
All 8 common shapes as fret numbers, lowest string first. Hover or tap one to see it drawn.
- 2x4332, 2nd fret, F#, root position, top note F#, all fretted
- xx4332, 2nd fret, F#, root position, top note F#, all fretted
- xx8776, 6th fret, A#, 1st inversion, top note A#, all fretted
- x9877x, 7th fret, F#, root position, top note F#, all fretted
- x-9-x-11-11-10, 9th fret, F#, root position, top note D, all fretted
- x-9-12-11-11-x, 9th fret, F#, root position, top note A#, all fretted
- x-x-x-11-11-10, 10th fret, F#, root position, top note D, all fretted
- 14-13-12-11-11-x, 11th fret, F#, root position, top note A#, all fretted
What to play over F#aug
Every note of F#aug is in F# whole tone and F# altered.
Chords near F#aug
Change one note of F#aug and you have F# (the sharp fifth becomes the fifth), F#maj7#5 (add the major seventh) or F#aug7 (add the flat seventh).
F#aug is a augmented chord — root, major third, sharp fifth. Augmented chords on every root.
The common shapes and the derived voicings come from different places, and both are explained in how this site is built.