What notes are in Bbaug?

Bbaug contains Bb · D · F#. Name any set of notes with the chord identifier.

How do you build an augmented chord?

Stack two major thirds: root, major third, augmented fifth.

How many different augmented triads are there?

Four. The chord splits the octave into three equal parts, so the twelve roots produce only four distinct note sets.

What notes are in the Bb Augmented chord?

The Bb Augmented chord contains the notes Bb · D · F#: the root Bb with the intervals 1P, 3M, 5A stacked above it. Play them together for the chord or one after another for an arpeggio. The lowest note is normally Bb, but any chord tone can take the bass in an inversion.

What intervals make up the Bb Augmented chord?

Measured from Bb, the Bb Augmented chord stacks the intervals 1P, 3M, 5A. The quality of the third and of the seventh, if there is one, is what gives the chord its character; the rest of the notes colour it. Every interval in the formula links to its own page, with its sound.

Bb Augmented Chord (Bbaug): Notes, Piano & Guitar

Play it on your instrument

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Voicings on the piano

Voicing	Notes	Play it on your instrument
Closed, root position	Bb3 · D4 · F#4

Tap a key or a fret to hear it.

Anatomy

Bb Augmented (Bbaug) contains the notes Bb · D · F#, each with a role measured as an interval from the root.

Read on: how triads are built

Inversions

An inversion of Bb Augmented puts a chord tone other than Bb in the bass; the name after the slash is that bass note.

Where it lives

The keys and the scales Bb Augmented belongs to.

In which keys

Bb Augmented is diatonic to 3 keys; the numeral is its degree and the label its harmonic function.

B minorVII+Dominant
D# minorV+Dominant
G minorIII+Tonic

Scales that contain it

Bb Augmented fits inside these scales, each built on Bb.

Bb Whole ToneBb · C · D · E · F# · G#
Bb AlteredBb · Cb · C# · D · E · Gb · Ab
Bb Phrygian DominantBb · Cb · D · Eb · F · Gb · Ab
Bb Harmonic MajorBb · C · D · Eb · F · Gb · A
Bb Flat Six PentatonicBb · C · D · F · Gb
Bb Whole Tone PentatonicBb · D · Fb · Gb · Ab
Bb AugmentedBb · C# · D · F · F# · A
Bb Mystery #1Bb · Cb · D · Fb · Gb · Ab

Related chords

Chords that share most of their notes with Bb Augmented: simpler and richer stacks of the same notes, and the substitutes a chart would accept.

Richer

Bb7#5Bb · D · F# · Ab
Bbmaj7b6Bb · D · Gb · A
Bbmaj7#5Bb · D · F# · A
Bb7b13Bb · D · Ab · Gb
Bb+add#9Bb · D · F# · C#
Bbmaj#5add9Bb · D · F# · C

Augmented on every root

Caug Dbaug Daug Ebaug Eaug Faug Gbaug Gaug Abaug Aaug

Open it in a tool

Understanding the Bb Augmented chord

Names and symbols

Bbaug is the chord symbol for Bb Augmented; it is also written Bb+, Bb+5, Bb^#5.

How it is built

On Bb it is Bb · D · F#: 1P · 3M · 5A. The fifth is raised a semitone, which makes both thirds major and the whole chord symmetrical.

How it is used

Like the diminished seventh its symmetry means it belongs to no key, so it functions as a pivot or as a moment of suspension. As an altered dominant (the ♯5) it sharpens the pull toward resolution.

In a rising inner-voice cliché — I, I+, I6, I7 — it is the second chord, where one voice climbs chromatically while everything else stays put.

Learn this properly

Chapter 10: Chords: Triads and Sevenths

Common questions

What notes are in Bbaug?: Bbaug contains Bb · D · F#. Name any set of notes with the chord identifier.
How do you build an augmented chord?: Stack two major thirds: root, major third, augmented fifth.
How many different augmented triads are there?: Four. The chord splits the octave into three equal parts, so the twelve roots produce only four distinct note sets.
What notes are in the Bb Augmented chord?: The Bb Augmented chord contains the notes Bb · D · F#: the root Bb with the intervals 1P, 3M, 5A stacked above it. Play them together for the chord or one after another for an arpeggio. The lowest note is normally Bb, but any chord tone can take the bass in an inversion.
What intervals make up the Bb Augmented chord?: Measured from Bb, the Bb Augmented chord stacks the intervals 1P, 3M, 5A. The quality of the third and of the seventh, if there is one, is what gives the chord its character; the rest of the notes colour it. Every interval in the formula links to its own page, with its sound.