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Richard Barrett explains how to create the sound of suspense by using a raised 5th in your chord choices
An augmented chord is what we call a major chord with a raised (or sharp) 5th. You’ll hear it whenever the composer wants to set up a state of suspense, whether at the beginning of a song, as part of a chord progression, or in film scores to add a sense of foreboding at key moments. As with many other aspects of music theory, there are actually a couple of different names that can be correctly used.
I’ve already mentioned ‘sharp 5’, often notated as +5 in jazz chord charts, in the same school of shorthand as a minus sign being used for minor and a small circle for diminished. Check out a copy of the jazz ‘bible’ The Real Book to see these symbols in use. Like any other chord, we can alter augmented to feature extensions such as the 7th. For example, Aaug7, or A7 (+5), which arguably makes things a bit clearer. It also gives you the essential harmony, plus any extensions in a format that might make reading a jazz chord chart on the fly less stressful!
PHOTO BY GUS STEWART/REDFERNS/GETTY IMAGES
Example 1
This chord could correctly be referred to as D augmented, Daug5 or D (+5). The A# on the third string replaces the usual A, giving a sense of suspense not present in a regular D major. You could also alternate D major and D (+5), thereby recreating the intro to
ABBA’s Mamma Mia.
Example 2
Taking a regular open-position A major chord and raising the 5th (E) to F on the fourth string giv
