The augmented triad is the chord that sounds like a soap-opera character is about to have a dramatic flashback. Take a major triad, shove the fifth up a semitone until it's visibly sweating, and you've got three notes that flatly refuse to sit still. This is Exercise #30 in my melodic voice leading series, and yes, it's exactly as unhinged as it sounds.
In this one-minute clip I walk augmented triads around the circle of fourths on the B, G and D strings, connecting each chord to the next with the smallest possible movement. It's a voice leading workout disguised as an augmented-sound endurance test — great for your ears, your fretboard knowledge, and your tolerance for chords that never fully resolve.
How augmented triad voice leading works
An augmented triad is root, major third and a sharp fifth (#5) — three notes stacked in perfect major thirds. Because those thirds are all equal, the chord is symmetrical: it repeats every four frets, so C aug, E aug and G#/Ab aug are literally the same three notes wearing different hats. There are only four unique augmented triads in the entire system, which is either beautiful or lazy depending on your mood.
The useful part is the voice leading. As you move around the circle of fourths on the B, G and D strings, don't leap to a fresh position — pick the inversion that keeps each voice moving the shortest distance, ideally a semitone or a whole step. Practise it slowly and you train two things at once: smooth connective motion between voicings, and a map of where every augmented shape lives on the neck. If you want the theory scaffolding, my Triads and inversions and Voice Leading lessons are the natural next stops.
Fair warning: augmented triads never truly resolve, so after ten minutes of this you'll feel like you're trapped in a lift between floors for all eternity. That's not a bug, that's the sound. Want the PDF and Guitar Pro file so you can suffer with proper notation? Grab it on my Patreon.