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The Caug chord

Built from C - E - G#, the Caug is a augmented triad that sounds off-balance in a deliberate way. It lives at the centre of moments of suspense in pop and film music, and it does its work quietly. An uncanny chord, used in James Bond themes and the bridge of Oh Darling. What follows below: the voicings worth memorising on guitar and piano, the theory in plain language, progressions in two or three different keys, and a short list of real records that lean on the chord.

Hear the Caug in the chord builder →

Voicings for Caug

Common ways to grip the Caug on guitar and piano. Guitar diagrams read low E to high E left-to-right; an × means muted, an open circle above the nut means an open string. Filled dots are fretted notes.

Guitar , full chord shapes

CAGED-derived voicings for Caug across the neck. Pick the shape closest to where your hand already sits.

Guitar: A-string aug at fr.3

Notes: C - E - G# (chord tones)

Guitar: E-shape aug at fr.8

Notes: C - E - G# (chord tones)

Guitar: D-string aug at fr.10

Notes: C - E - G# (chord tones)

Guitar: top-4 voicing

Notes: C - E - G# (chord tones)

Guitar: high top-4 voicing

Notes: C - E - G# (chord tones)

Guitar , triad shapes

Three-note voicings on three adjacent strings. Light textures for arpeggios, pop layering and chord-melody work.

Triad: top-string triad

Notes: 3-note voicing on adjacent strings

Triad: middle-string triad

Notes: 3-note voicing on adjacent strings

Triad: bass-side triad

Notes: 3-note voicing on adjacent strings

Piano voicings

Root position and inversions. The bass note matters: each inversion changes how the chord sits under a melody.

Piano: root position

Notes: C - E - G#. Root C at the bottom. The classic stacked-thirds spelling of a augmented triad.

Piano: first inversion

Notes: E - G# - C. E at the bottom. Common in chord-melody, walking bass lines and gentler voicings.

Piano: second inversion

Notes: G# - C - E. G# at the bottom. A floating, suspended feel often used in hymns and ballads.

The theory behind Caug

Spell out the Caug and you get C - E - G#. The intervals from the root are root, major third, augmented fifth, which is the recipe for a augmented triad. In a closely related major key the chord plays the role of passing chord; in a closely related major key it shows up as passing chord. Its preferred next move is resolve up a half-step into the next major chord, which is what makes it useful in Beatles-style bridges and film music.

Progressions that use Caug

Short progressions that put the Caug to work. Each one is shown in a different key so you can pick the one that suits your singer.

I→IV→V key of C major

Caug (as passing colour)

This chord appears as a borrowed or passing chord in many major-key progressions.

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Songs that feature Caug

Real records where this chord does structural work. No lyrics quoted, just the title and artist so you can pull up a copy and hear it in context.

Oh, Darling! by The Beatles. Caug colour within the verse.
Crying by Roy Orbison. Caug as a tension chord.
Take a Bow by Madonna. Caug as a key chord.

Related chords

Chords a step away from the Caug in the songwriting circle, the natural neighbours when you want a substitution.

TriadC DomC7 Maj7Cmaj7 m7Cm7 NeighbourG NeighbourGm NeighbourG7 NeighbourF

Keys where Caug lives

The keys where this chord turns up diatonically. Open any key page for the full set of progressions that lean on it.

C major A minor

More songwriting tools

Got the chord but still wrestling with the lyric? Find the right rhyme in RhymeForge, or break a writer's block with the unexpected word-pair generator in CollisionLab. Need to map a full progression? The chord builder on the home page is where the Caug fits into context. All free, no signup.

About the chord builder

The Undercover Zest chord progression builder is a free interactive tool that maps every diatonic and borrowed chord in every key. Click a Roman numeral to hear it, drag chords into a progression, then audition voicings, inversions and tensions until the song clicks.

This page is a static reference for the Caug. For interactive playback, voice-leading hints and substitution suggestions, open the chord builder above.