You know it from…

Danny Elfman – The Simpsons Theme The Beatles – Michelle Dream Theater – Under A Glass Moon How it works… A common theme in many unusual chords is some kind of internal symmetry of the arrangement of the notes. An augmented chord is made up of two major 3rd intervals. A diminished chord is made of two stacked minor 3rds; a diminished 7th chord is made of three stacked minor 3rds. When to use it… 1 An alternative to the dominant blues chord Replace the V chord in a 12-bar blues with an augmented chord for a tenser sounding turnaround. Chuck Berry opened No Particular Place To Go on an augmented chord. 2 Heavy metal tension

The striking sound of the diminished chord is often used to create tension by more progressive bands. Check out Opeth’s The Leper Affinity as an example of this.

listen out for tense notes to give character