Have a listen …
Did you feel an irresistible urge to resolve the tension and move to the ‘home’ chord? You can satisfy that urge here …
The most usual way to build the tension is with a seventh chord. In the key of D, that would be A7 …
But an augmented A chord is even more irresistible. Let’s hear it again …
Technically, if you’re interested, an augmented chord is a triad consisting of the tonic, major third and sharpened fifth. It is the latter that ‘augments’ a normal major triad and gives the chord its name.
The chord of D augmented (often shown as D+) contains the notes D F# and A#. Interestingly, all three notes in this triad are four semitones apart.
A classic example of the augmented chord creating suspense is the opening chord of The Beatles’ Oh Darling. The chord reappears at the end of the bridge.
The augmented chord also works well as the second step in a build from the root chord. A great example is John Lennon’s Isolation, which ascends from D to D+ to D6 to D7 before resolving to a G/G7 and then returning to D …
I think it’s the augmented chord that gives this song its bleak, haunting quality.
I used a similar build in the following track that I produced with Quelque Chose and which appears on the album The Blue. The build goes up from A to A+, A6 and A7 before resolving to Dmaj7, Dm7 A, E6, and E.
