Augmented Sixth Chords printable pdf download

music theory for musicians and normal people by toby w. rush

Augmented Sixth Chords

like that moment of incredible tension just

before the hero finally kisses the leading

lady, the half-step is the go-to interval

for creating tension in music of the common

practice period. it drives the entire style!

if one half-step can create such strong tension, how

about two half-steps sounding simultaneously? Let’s

get creative here for a minute to find a cool new way

to approach a diatonic chord. in this case, we’ll use them to approach the dominant triad .

...and approach that

˙ #

octave with a half step

first, we’ll start with

˙ ˙ b

˙ #

below the top note,

the doubled root of a

˙ b

V chord ...

...and, finally, add the

tonic as the third note.

...and a half step above

the bottom note...

the result is a new chord, one we call the augmented sixth chord,

w ww

after the interval created by the top and bottom notes.

augmented sixth chords are predominant chords,

meaning they are used to approach dominant chords.

if we just use

they are usually used to approach dominant triads,

three notes

not dominant sevenths, because of the doubled

and double the

roots present in dominant triads.

tonic, we get the

˙ #

italian

however, they also often

augmented sixth.

It.6

approach tonic chords

in second inversion,

˙ b

˙ n

w w w

˙ b

which also contain a

doubled fifth scale degree.

if we add the

Ger.6

second scale

rarely, augmented sixth chords

degree instead

of doubling the

are found transposed down

˙ b

tonic, we get the

a perfect fifth, analyzed as

french

“on flat two,” and used to

Fr.6

augmented sixth.

approach a tonic chord in

root position.

Fr.6

w w w

on 2

˙ #

and, finally, when resolving

and if we

the german augmented sixth

replace the

chord to a dominant triad,

second scale

˙ b

you might find yourself

degree with the

˙ b

writing parallel fifths...

lowered third

scale degree,

but it’s perfectly okay!

we get the

mozart did it all the time!

Ger.6

german

augmented sixth.

Ger.6

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Augmented Sixth Chords

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