Caug Ukulele Chord

How to play Caug on ukulele, step by step

1. Index finger: 1st fret, G string
2. Middle finger: 3rd fret, A string
3. Leave the C and E strings open. Strum all four strings.

Play C first, then set the index at the 1st fret of the G string. That single fret is the fifth rising from G to G sharp, and switching between 0003 and 1003 is the clearest augmented demonstration a ukulele can give.

If it buzzes or sounds wrong

It still sounds like plain C

The whole difference lives at the 1st fret of the G string. If the index is soft the open G rings instead. Pluck the G string alone; you should hear G sharp, not G.

The open C and E strings get clipped

The index on the G string must stand on its tip. Lean it back and its underside will rest on the C string and kill the middle of the chord.

The A string note buzzes

The middle finger holds the 3rd fret alone up there. Keep it close behind the fret wire and press with the tip, not the pad.

What makes it a Caug

C · E · G♯ | 1 3 ♯5

Caug is an augmented triad: C major with the fifth raised from G to G sharp. The G sharp is what your ear notices. It sits a half step above the note it replaced and a half step below A, so the chord feels caught mid climb, which is why writers use it to connect chords rather than to rest on.

The textbook move is C to Caug to F: Caug acts as the V chord of F with a raised fifth, and the G sharp resolves up to A, the third of F. The same G sharp is the leading tone of A minor, so Caug walks there too. And because C to E and E to G sharp are both major thirds, Caug contains exactly the same notes as Eaug and Abaug.

C vs Caug

On a ukulele the two chords are one fret apart: C is 0003 with the G string open, Caug frets that string at 1. One half step turns the most settled chord on the instrument into one that cannot wait to leave.

That suggests how to use it: C for the body of the song, Caug for a beat on the way to F or A minor. The classic line C, Caug, F walks the fifth upward one half step at a time.