G+ Chord Piano - How To Play G Augmented Chords On Piano

The G+ chord is made up of three notes – G, B, and D#.

If you’re new to chords, the ‘+’ means ‘augmented’ and the chord is also referred to as the ‘Gaug chord’, ‘Gaug triad’, ‘G augmented chord’, or ‘G augmented triad’.

And you may notice that it’s the same as the G Chord, but with a D# instead of D.

You can actually play a G+ chord on piano in three ways:

Root Position – This is where the G note is the lowest note of the chord
First Inversion – This is where the B note is the lowest note of the chord
Second Inversion – This is where the D# note is the lowest note of the chord

I’ll quickly explain this in some more detail, with images and audio clips below.

G+ Chord Piano – Root Position

Whenever you play a G+ chord on piano, and G is the lowest note, that’s known as root position. It looks like this:

Piano keyboard with a G augmented chord highlighted in root position — G+ Chord Piano – Root Position

There are six places on a standard piano where you can play a G+ chord in root position. If you have a piano close by, try playing each one.

Below you’ll see what all six look like on sheet music. Click the play button if you’d like to hear what they sound like too.

Sheet music showing all six G augmented chords in root position from low to high

G+ Chord Piano – First Inversion

Whenever you play a G+ chord on piano, and B is the lowest note, that’s known as the first inversion. It looks like this:

Piano keyboard with a G augmented chord highlighted in first inversion — G+ Chord Piano – First Inversion

And here it is played in all places on a standard piano. You’ll notice that there are seven of these.

Sheet music showing all seven G augmented chords in first inversion from low to high

G+ Chord Piano – Second Inversion

Whenever you play a G+ chord on piano, and D# is the lowest note, that’s known as the second inversion. It looks like this:

Piano keyboard with a G augmented chord highlighted in second inversion — G+ Chord Piano – Second Inversion

And here is the second inversion played in all places on a standard piano. There are seven of these too.

Sheet music showing all seven G augmented chords in second inversion from low to high

And that’s about all for this post. I hope you learned something new today about the G+ chord. If you enjoyed this post, you may also enjoy learning more about the theory behind augmented chords.

So, happy learning…

And happy playing!