We start the lesson by recapping the basic theory behind sus chords and then look at them in. What you need to know about sus chords suspended chords. Detta betecknas ibland som bara sus, men mer korrekt som sus4. I think the simplest and best way to learn the theory is based on key signatures. In traditional theory, suspension is a term used when a chord tone is held over from a previously played chord and then resolved to the third of the new chord.
A suspended chord or sus chord is a musical chord in which the major or minor third is omitted, replaced usually with either a perfect fourth or a major second although the fourth is far more common. Hey guys, in todays lesson were going to break down sus chords and look at the theory that makes them up. In this article, well look at more conventional chord scale options listed according to chord types. For a full list of charts and other resources, check out the musician tuts resources page. If youre serious about playing guitar, you should have a look at one of the best guitar.
We already learned that a suspended chord is the one which doesnt have third, in other words, it cannot be classified as major or minor. How to improvise over sus chords learn jazz standards. Because all sevenths are dissonant intervals, any seventh chord is dissonant, in other words, a seventh chord is more tense than a major or minor chord. Download theory supplements, midi files, chord changes and full notefornote transcriptions of every lesson. Functionally, it can be written as v 9sus4 or v 7sus9. You will learn how a chord is built and what separates different groups of chords. Learn some different voicings of the b7sus4 chord on guitar with printable chord. You can get really inventive with a bit of strumming and chord progressions.
Sus is shorthand for suspended and it refers to the 4th which is said to be suspended in the chord. Good for beginners and for advanced guitar players. In pic 3, here is the add 2 resolving to a minor chord, also quite common, as is the sus 4 resolving to the minor chord. Suspended chord theory sus4 and sus2 chords suspended abbreviated as sus chords refer to any chord that does not contain a major or minor 3rd. In the cases there we only have a letter, such as c, it is a common major chord.
How to play and apply sus2 and sus4 chords guitarhabits. Whether you want to study theory to go on the look at our jazz improvisation pages, or whether you want a preliminary explanation of some of the concepts in our beginners impro course taming the saxophone vol 2, you should find a lot of useful material her as you probably know, there are 7 notes in a major scale. My latest book focuses mostly on the things that are really worth knowing, not so much on the rest. In fact, whether a band plays a d 7 or a g 7 sus is entirely up to one musician. Guitar chords chart for beginners free pdf download. In chord theory, if you want to make your listeners feel that something is coming up next, use the dominant seventh chord. Jazz sheet musicblank sheet musicguitar sheet musicguitar songsmusic musicpiano music. Basic guitar chords, keys, and scales december 30th, 2004 4 the basic chords in the key of f chart 7 now let me explain the chord charts in case you dont understand them. Add filler paper to your binder and keep accurate records in your practice log of the items you are working on, what needs work, chord changes, progressions.
Thats the quick explanation, and one that we arent going to go into detail because in modern music the suspended chord is considered a chord in its own right. The root, while not present in the above example, will usually be played in the bass rather than totally replaced as the 3rd is in the sus 4 chord. A sus chords piano chord guide with pictures and theory. To understand what a sus chord really is and how it operates you have to know a little bit of music theory. Welcome to a short introduction of the theory behind chords. A sus chord is a two chord over the root of its corresponding five chord. Music theory can be complicated but we need to know it if we want to make sense of everything and improve our guitar knowledge and playing. You know what chords are, now you just need some piano chords theory. We already learned that a suspended chord is the one which doesnt have third, in other words, it cannot be classified as major or minor another thing is that a chord with fourth extension note use to appear as 4sus, because the fourth replaces the third. Chord boxes sorted from the easiest to the hardest.
Preparation, suspension, and resolution preparation chord tone preceding the suspension suspension sustain or repetition of that tone as a non chord tone resolution motion by step to the chord tone suspension resolution by step down. As weve seen, there arent really any nonchord tones on a sus chord, but we can still apply the principle by combining some permutation of root, 4 th, 5 th and 7 th with any other chord tone. This second way is the most common way to use them so the best way to play them is with their parent chords both major and minor. The ultimate guide to piano harmony chord theory piano. A little theory is a good thing learning some will move your playing forward faster and you will be able. Sus chords piano chord guide with pictures and theory. This means suspended chords are neither major nor minor, as the 3rd is responsible for making a chord major or minor. A normal major chord consists of the root, 3rd and 5th notes of the major scale 5.
Using sus chords to spice up your chord progressions. Besides the standard sus4sus2 names, the annotation c4, d4, e4 and so forth can occur and often together with c3, d3, e3 and so forth meaning a sequence from sus to major. In the sus 7 chord, the chord 3rd is suspended to a 4th therefore giving us chord tones 1 4 5 b7. These are not lessons, but supplements to my lessons. One nugget of info that i forgot to include in these videos if you play a sus2 chord in 2nd inversion, it now has the structure of a sus4 chord. Sus2 or sus4 april 19, 2012 september 23, 2015 musictheory 0 comments a suspended chord, or sus chord, is a chord in which the third has been displaced by either of its dissonant neighbouring notes, forming intervals of a major second or more commonly, a perfect fourth with the root. In classical theory, a suspension refers specifically to the fourthor occasionally the secondthat is held over briefly from the previous chord.
It is called the dominant seventh because the v chord, or dominant chord in the latin naming system, is the only major chord in the major scale that can naturally contain a minor seventh. Guitar chord chart with finger position, note names, and intervals. Download this free pdf and learn new chord shapes for major, minor, dominant and other chord types. A suspended chord or sus chord is a musical chord in which the major or minor third is. But we didnt talk about the application of this kind of chord yet, because a theory base for this was needed. In these chords, the third the second note in the chord are being replaced with either a major second an interval consisting of two semitones or a perfect four an interval consisting of five semitones.
The use of v 7 sus v 7 is so common as to have a special notation, v 7 sus43, which actually refers to the two chords played in sequence. Check out my free video lessons on my free lessons page. Oct 02, 2016 the g chord chord v is the journey home so it is very useful that this chord has the most tension waiting to be released when you finally arrive home. There are a couple of ways to approach figuring out piano chords theory. A jazz sus chord or dominant 9sus4 chord is a seventh chord on the fifth scale degree of the key with a suspended fourth and an added ninth. The chordal instrument is now including the b9 in the voicing which alters the sound slightly. A sus chords for piano sus4 and sus2 with keyboard diagram. In these chords, the third the second note in the chord are being replaced with either a major second an interval consisting of two semitones or a perfect four an interval. Major chords minor chords seventh chords extended chords sus chords dim chords aug chords add chords altered chords. The theory behind the added chromatic note is that it allows one to sound chord tones on the downbeats and passing notes on the upbeats while playing eighthnote based lines.
In order to create a sus2 chord, you take a major chord, and you move the third down 1 whole step. Suspended fourths are abbreviated key sus type of suspension, so a suspended second in g is abbreviated gsus2, and a suspended fourth in c major is csus4. A key signature tells you how many sharps or flats are in a key. Now that we are in advanced levels, we will see the most common cases where these chords appear. Sus chords explained piano chord guide with pictures and theory. Articles on every guitar chord type maj, min, sus, dim, aug,7b5, and how chords are built from scales.
In this article, it is explained what a chord is and which the most common categories of chords are. Sus4 chords suspended fourth guitar shapes and voicings. Gottry music theory nonchord tones ii supply the requested nonchord tones between the given chords. There are lots of possibilities, but two cell structures seem very well suited to the sus chord over c7sus try playing. A practical guide to the fundamentals of chord construction, analysis and function. Sep 23, 2019 one nugget of info that i forgot to include in these videos if you play a sus2 chord in 2nd inversion, it now has the structure of a sus4 chord. Ett sus4ackord ar alltsa uppbyggt av grundton, kvart och kvint, till exempel csus4. Music theorychords wikibooks, open books for an open world. Whereas a major triad would be 1 3 5 and a minor triad would be 1 b3 5a suspended 4th sus4 chord would be 1 4 5 and a suspended 2nd sus2 chord would be 1 2 5.
For the sake of example, we will start out on the 5th fret to demonstrate the particular. Any voicing for a minor seventh chord is a voicing for a sus chord a perfect fifth lower. A suspended chordabbreviated sus on music sheets and tabsis a musical chord which is a variation on the major or minor triads. Specifically, we are covering the dominant 7 sus 4 chord, which shows up a lot in jazz music. It is a chord that typically leads or transitions to the first chord in a particular key signature e. Along with the chord shapes, an example using c sus 7 in music and tab is included for each chord type. There are some very famous chord progressions, such as the iivv chord progression, and its really easy to.
Sus chords can be used either as a coolsounding chords in their own right or as ornamental chords that you might use to embellish a simple chord progression. I think you will find that our teaching methods here at next level guitar are of the best available on the market today. A future issue will address more advanced scale options such as crossreferenced scales, use of parent scales, and synthetic scales along with. If ever you need a quick reference to a complete sus chord chart, check out the one below. Suspended fourth chords are neither major nor minor because the third. Free pdf guitar, mandolin, and ukulele chord and music charts. Introduction to chord theory page 2 2008 by david southwick ii. Full chord database with images and chord formation explanation. Gottry music theory non chord tones suspensions and retardations three parts. This free ebook contains the charts to the mostoften used guitar chords. Ive posted a pdf with charts and more at my patreon.
You may also hear this called a suspended 4th chord. A suspended chord, or sus chord, is a chord in which the third has been displaced by either of its dissonant neighbouring notes, forming intervals of a major second or more commonly, a perfect fourth with the root. By doing this, we will have a better understanding of how music works and have better command of sus chords. G7 naturally leads to either c or cmin or any variation of it. Learn how to build all 12 suspended fourth chords with this simple chord chart. The suspended chord is another one of those chord types that attracts some confusion. Use my search bar to find exactly what youre looking for. We have used sus voicings in many of the jazz standard tutorials and ive received some requests to do a dedicated lesson on this type of chord. This sus chord chart includes sus chords for all natural.
Here are some free pdfs used to supplement my free video lessons. I mentioned before about tension within the notes of a chord. Here are the options for adding the chromatic note. Then it is replaced with a major second the chord name is sus2. Before we get started with the chord shapes, be sure to take note of the following analysis of the sus 7 chord.
We will begin with a common shape of suspended chord. Understanding suspended chords anton schwartz jazz saxophone. Welcome to episode 74 of the ljs podcast where today we are talking about how to improvise over suspended chords. B dominant seventh suspended fourth b7sus4 chords on guitar. Basic suspended chord theory suspended chords occur when the 3rd has been replaced with a perfect 4th 4 or major 2nd 2 interval. For example, the jazz sus chord built on c, written as c 9sus4 has pitches cfgb. The v chord called the dominant chord is a very good example of this, but first we need to extend the chord. These chords can sometimes stump an improviser when they come up and this lesson digs into some different ways to approach them. Sus stands for suspension and what happens in these chords are that the third the second note are being replaced with either a major second an interval consisting of two semitones or a perfect four an interval consisting of five semitones. Understanding suspended chords anton schwartz jazz music. Here at gbu, we always stress the theory behind the music, because we dont want you to become merely players. How a suspended chord is made theory a suspended chord is made from the 1st, 4th and 5th notes of a major scale. In order to create a sus4 chord, you simply take a major chord, and you move the third up 12 step.
So when you see the word suspended, or its abbreviation sus, that translates as no 3rd. Just as you can think of a v7 sus chord as different chords shown at the top, you can think of a v7susb9 chord in a few different ways. The following is a quick rundown, but i urge you to learn some chord progression theory, itll take you far. The difference in this chord compared to a normal v7 sus lies in the voicing. There are some very famous chord progressions, such as the iivv chord progression, and its really easy to make up your own progressions. Ive spent a lot of time refining and condensing this course so you only learn what you really need to know. A major scale consists of 8 basic notes and follows the pattern described. This series of guitar chord theory lessons will give you a crash course in how chords are constructed. Sus2 or sus4 april 19, 2012 september 23, 2015 musictheory 0 comments.
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