The augmented triad is the drama queen of chords: it stacks two major thirds, splits the octave into three perfectly equal slices, and then has the audacity to refuse to tell you which note is the root. Play one in isolation and it sounds like a villain is about to walk into the room. Play twelve of them in a row and you sound like you actually know what you're doing.
This clip is Exercise #31 from my ongoing series: a melodic voice-leading drill that walks augmented triads around the circle of fourths, all on the G, D and A strings. Sixty-three seconds, no bassist, no drummer, just you and the most symmetrical chord in the building.
How this augmented voice-leading exercise works
An augmented triad is just root, major third and augmented fifth — two stacked major thirds. Because those intervals are identical, the shape is symmetric: slide any augmented voicing up a major third (four frets) and you get the exact same chord with a different name. That's why there are really only four unique augmented triads in all of music, and it's the whole reason this exercise is so satisfying on three strings.
The useful part is the voice leading: instead of jumping between distant grips, you move each augmented triad to the next chord in the circle of fourths by shifting only the notes that have to move, usually by a half or whole step. Keep the top voice singing as a little melody, let the G, D and A strings carry the harmony, and you're training your ear and fingers to connect shapes smoothly instead of leaping around like a caffeinated squirrel. If you've done my triads and inversions work, this is the symmetrical, slightly haunted sequel.
Warning: after a week of this, every horror-movie soundtrack will sound like homework. Grab the PDF and Guitar Pro file on my Patreon and let's make augmented chords your personality.