Chord progressions from Augmented chords

Question

This is my first time posting so please let me know if this is an inappropriate question.

I've been starting to look into composing music, and I've been looking to compose a piece around this Eaug(Add9) chord (X-7-6-5-7-X on the guitar). The best progression I can come up with is just switching from the C to the B to change to an E(Add9) Chord. Whats the best way to progress with an Augmented(Add9) base chord?

Note: I'm a huge fan of minimalist music, so I'm okay with repeating these two chords for a while, just struggling to come up with anything after that.

Any help or advice appreciated.

Answer 1

Rather like diminished chords, which repeat themselves every tone-and-a-half, augmenteds do a similar thing every two tones. So E+ is equivalent to G♯ (A♭)+ which is equivalent to C+.

Again, like diminished chords, they can be used to pivot to a different chord. So, as augmenteds work rather like dominants, E+ could lead to A (I+>IV), or to C♯, or to F.

The 'add 9' gives an added (!) flavour to the original triad, but at the end of the day, it's really down to the composer to decide what else works. Chord changes often work successfully when at least one note is static, and at least one other note moves just one semitone - up or down. That will give several options, one or two of which ought to sound good to you, as the composer.