Augmented Arpeggios

Welcome to our in depth lesson on using the augmented arpeggio. Augmented arpeggios have a real fusion type sound to them and they are especially useful in jazz because they are present in the melodic minor scale. I love the augmented arpeggio sound and they can be a really useful tool for playing over dominant 7#5 chords. The augmented arpeggio can be seen as two stacked major thirds, for instance in the C augmented arpeggio the distance between C and E is a major third and so is the distance between E and G#.

My favorite guitar player to make use of the augmented sound was Shawn Lane who used the wide interval sounds of the augmented arpeggio to devastating effect. Typically Shawn would use the augmented arpeggio to create a strange head turning, alien like sound that few guitarists have ever managed to emulate. Countless jazz musicians have made use of the mysterious wide interval sounds of the augmented arpeggio in their playing.

The basic augmented triad arpeggio contains three notes, the root, third and sharp fifth. One of the things I like about the augmented arpeggio is that they have a wide interval sound. We can represent the augmented arpeggio intervalically like this:

1 3 #5

I have outlined below a list of augmented arpeggios in all 12 keys. You should take the time to learn the wonderful augmented arpeggio sound as fluently as you can.

C Augmented arpeggio

C E G#

C# Augmented arpeggio

C# F A

D Augmented arpeggio

D F# Bb

Eb Augmented arpeggio

Eb G B

E Augmented arpeggio

E G# C

F Augmented arpeggio

F A C#

F# Augmented arpeggio

F# Bb D

G Augmented arpeggio

G B D#

Ab Augmented arpeggio

Ab C E

A Augmented arpeggio

A C# F

Bb Augmented arpeggio

Bb D F#

B Augmented Arpeggio

B D# G

If you look at the list of augmented arpeggios above you will see that you can build another augmented arpeggio of each note of the arpeggio. For instance the C augmented arpeggio contains the same notes as the E and G# augmented arpeggios. Harmonically the C augmented, E augmented and G# augmented arpeggios are the same because they all contain the same three notes. This is useful to know because on an instrument like the guitar you can play some really interesting lines by weaving together the C, E and G# augmented arpeggio shapes. Obviously the same idea happens in all 12 keys, so the A, C# and F augmented arpeggios for example all contain the same notes.

You can use the augmented arpeggio to play over dominant chords, dominant 7#5 chords and superimpose it over a host of other chords for interesting effect. You can find three augmented arpeggios within the melodic minor scale. For instance in the C melodic minor scale you can find an Eb augmented arpeggio, a G augmented arpeggio and a B augmented arpeggio. You can therefore use either an Eb, G or a B augmented arpeggio over any of the chords found in the C melodic minor scale. For an example, try playing an Eb augmented arpeggio over a Cmin/maj7 chord.

Have fun experimenting with the strange and wonderful sound of the augmented arpeggio and see if you can find a use for it in your own playing.