The Augmented Scale For Guitar

The augmented scale, also known in jazz theory as the symmetrical augmented scale, gets it's name from the interlocking combination of two augmented triads a minor second or minor third apart that are present within the scale. Often confused with the Whole Tone scale, the Augmented scale is mainly used to improvise over augmented chords. The augmented scale is certainly not a widely used scale but it can be useful to experiment with and can help you come up with some interesting harmonic ideas.

Very few guitarists make use of this scale but because of its symmetrical nature it is very easy to play and remember on the guitar. Saxophonists John Coltrane, Oliver Nelson and bandleader Michael Brecker have all used this scale in their music. The symmetrical augmented scale has the following interval structure

1 b3 3 5 b6 7

Which in the key of C translates to

C Eb E G Ab B

The augmented scale is hexatonic, meaning that it has only six notes. One really useful thing about this scale is that it is very easy to remember on the fret board because of it's symmetrical shape. The same augmented scale patterns are repeated over and over again up the neck

Chords and Arpeggios

Within the C symmetrical augmented scale we can find the following chords and arpeggios

• C major triad
• E major triad
• Ab major triad

• C minor triad
• E minor triad
• Ab minor triad

• C augmented
• E augmented
• Ab augmented

• C major 7
• E major 7
• Ab major 7

Exercise 1

Exercise 1 shows a C augmented scale pattern.

Exercise 2

Exercise 2 shows a C augmented arpeggio.

Some people might refer to this scale as the "minor-third half-step scale" because of the repeating series of intervals used to create this unique scale. It is worth noting that there are only really 4 different augmented scales due to the repeating patterns it creates. Have fun messing around with this and see if you can use the exotic sound of the augmented scale in your own playing.