I made a video explaining how to identify Italian, French, and German augmented sixth chords! Check it out here https://youtu.be/GX2l3P3-E6E
Shout out to Dr. Elyse Kahler for helping me with transcribing the examples into Sibelius! (ElyseKahler.com)
- All Augmented sixth chords have an augmented sixth that resolves outward by halfstep to an octave on the dominant.
- There is no real “root” to this chord.
- Its purpose is to emphasize the dominant.
- The notes of the chords are the same in parallel major and minor keys (although the accidentals may change to reflect the key signature).
- The augmented sixth chords are Italian (It+6), French (Fr+6), and German (Ger+6).
- Remember Frito-Lay potato chips to remember Fi-Do-Le, which is the basis for all the augmented sixth chords.
- Italian: Fi-Do-Le
- FREnch: Fi-RE-Do-Le
- GerMAn: Fi- Me-Do-Le.
- Because of the perfect 5th in the Ger+6, it must resolve to a cadential I 6/4 – V [aka V 6/4 – 5/3] to avoid parallel 5ths.