As with the diminished 7th chords Pat came up with a useful guitar
fretboard concept using augmented triads. An augmented triad is another
symmetrical, keyless, entity, which is composed of consecutive major
3rds. From C: C-E-G# There are only four augmented chords before you
have a repeat.
C-E-G#
Db-F-A
D-F#-A#
Eb-G-B
The next one would be E-G#-B#(C) which is an inversion of our first one.
Remember that with dim7ths you can use any 4 strings on the the guitar
to build your chords. With augmenteds it's any 3 strings. 1-2-3, 2-3-4,
1-3-5 etc. Lets go easy and use 1-2-3, aka the high E, B, and G strings.
A C augmented can be built thusly: C on the 5th fret, G string; E on the
5th fret, B string; and G# on the 1st string, 4th fret. As with the
diminished 7ths we are going to change some notes. First lower your C on
the 3rd string 1/2 step to a B. The resulting chord is an E major triad.
Now go back to the augmented. This time lower the E on the 2nd string
1/2 step to an Eb. The resulting chord is an Ab major triad (Ab is
enharmonic to G#). Last go back to the augmented and lower the G# on the
1st string 1/2 step to a G natural. Voila, a C major triad.
Next let's do the same thing we did with diminisheds, move the chord up
the neck. Let's stay with the C major triad for ease. From the
augmented's position on the 4th fret move it up 4 frets to the 8th fret.
Your notes from lowest to highest now read E-G#-C. Lower the G# on the
2nd string 1/2 step and you have your next inversion of a C major triad.
Go back to the augmented shape and move up four more frets to the 12th
fret. Your notes now from lowest to highest are G#-C-E. Lower the G# to
G and you have your final inversion of a C major triad on this group of
strings. If you go 4 more frets you are at the octave of the original
chord.
But wait, there's more! Now go back and systematically do the same thing
except *raise* the notes of the augmented triad one at a time. If you
start with the C-E-G# and raise the C 1/2 step to C# you have a C# minor
triad, the E to an F gives you an F minor triad and G# to A gives you an
A minor triad.
Many of you are probably already familiar with the voicings that you
derive from this excercise. Where this really starts to pay off is in
splitting the augmented onto disjunct string groups. Try the C augmented
on the 5th, 3rd, and 1st strings and repeating the excercise. Play E on
the 7th fret, 5th string; C on the 5th fret, 3rd string; and G# on 4th
fret, 1st string.
How can you use this information? A couple of ways to start. Pat's
approach is to use this for writing solo pieces for guitar. On his one
of his videos he plays a simple sounding tune called 'Country Road'. He
wrote this piece back in the late 70's, early 80's, when he was
experimenting with pick-style pieces that sound like fingerpicked tunes.
Another example of this technique is his version of 'Both Sides Now' on
the album "Consciousness!". At one time I had 'Country Road' memorized
and you can see the way he (probably) put it together with the various
triad voicings on different strings. Once you can visualize the triads
this way it's fairly easy to move the notes around and just listen to
the various ways the shapes can move in and out of different areas,
often coming up with surprisingly cohesive, melodies, harmonies, and
bass lines quite naturally.
Another way I've found to use this is in building triads over bass notes
for comping. A C triad over an F bass note is a means to play an F
major9th sonority. A C major triad over an Ab bass is an Abmajor7#5
chord. Try using some of the inversions you get for a C triad and find
an F or an Ab on a lower string for a bass note to hear these chords. It
works great.
Hope some of you are enjoying this.
Clay