Caug Chord on Guitar
Caug = C – E – G# (Root, Major 3rd, Minor 6th)
C augmented mirrors the diminished chord's symmetry but from the opposite direction — instead of stacking minor thirds, it stacks major thirds, raising the fifth by a half step and producing a triad that feels suspended and slightly disoriented rather than clearly major or clearly tense. At the eighth fret, this E-shape barre voicing needs a genuine stretch in the fretting hand, since the raised fifth pushes one finger further from the others than the plain major triad requires.
The notes are C, E, and G# — root, major third, augmented fifth — two major thirds stacked evenly, which is the mirror image of how diminished chords stack two minor thirds. That symmetry gives augmented triads their characteristic dreamlike, faintly unsettled color, distinct from diminished chords' sharper tension; augmented chords are often used as a brief embellishment on a major chord right before it moves somewhere else, the raised fifth acting almost like a chromatic passing note dressed up as a full triad.
Fingerings
Barre (8th fret)
How to Practice It
The stretch to the raised fifth is the main technical hurdle here — it sits a half step higher than the same finger would need to reach for a plain major triad, so this chord is a genuinely good test of finger independence and reach at a high fret position where spacing is already tight. Because augmented chords are typically brief embellishments rather than chords meant to be held, practicing the specific motion of sliding from C major into Caug and onward (often to A minor or F major) captures how the chord is actually used far better than holding it static.
Common Progressions
- C – Caug – F (I – I+ – IV, a chromatic passing move via the raised fifth)
- C – Caug – Am (a classic ascending-fifth embellishment resolving to the relative minor)
- F – Caug – Am – Dm (using augmented color as a connective passing chord)
- C – Caug – C6 (a decorative move through the raised and then natural sixth)
FAQ
- Why does C augmented sound dreamlike rather than simply dissonant?
- Its two stacked major thirds create a symmetrical structure with no single note obviously demanding resolution, so instead of the sharp tension a diminished chord creates, it produces a floating, ambiguous quality that composers often use for exactly that unsettled, suspended feeling.
- How is C augmented related to C diminished?
- They're structural opposites — diminished stacks minor thirds and lands a half step below the perfect fifth, while augmented stacks major thirds and lands a half step above it, giving the two chords a kind of mirror-image relationship despite sounding quite different in practice.
- Why does this fingering require an extra stretch?
- The augmented fifth sits a half step higher than the plain perfect fifth used in a major triad, pushing that finger further from the rest of the shape and demanding more reach than the comparable note in C major requires at the same fret.
- How many augmented chords does one shape actually cover?
- Because augmented triads are also built from evenly stacked intervals, a single fingering shape covers three different roots a major third apart — this exact shape correctly names C augmented, E augmented, and G# augmented depending on which note is treated as the root.
- Where does C augmented typically get used in a progression?
- Most often as a brief chromatic passing chord, raising a major chord's fifth by a half step on the way to another chord — a common move connecting a I chord to its relative minor or to a IV chord a few beats later.
- Is C augmented ever used as a chord to sustain or linger on?
- Occasionally, particularly in film-score or more adventurous jazz writing that wants its specific floating, unresolved quality as a deliberate mood rather than a quick passing effect, but in most guitar-based popular music it's used briefly rather than held.
- What's the easiest way to think about the difference between augmented and diminished color?
- Diminished sounds actively tense and unstable, almost demanding quick resolution, while augmented sounds more suspended and dreamy without the same urgency — both avoid a normal major or minor identity, but they create very different emotional effects while doing it.
Caug on other instruments: Caug on Piano. Related: how chords are built, chord finder.