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Chord formulas for augmented,
diminished, sus2, and sus4 chords

Once you understand the concept of chord formulas that you learned above, you can start to put together an understanding of how the other 3 note chords are constructed. Just remember that the function numbers (3, 3, 5, 5, etc.) are just how the notes in the chord relate to the major scale that has the same root as the chord.

Here are the formulas for the remaining 3 note chords.

augmented chord formula = 1 3 5
diminished chord formula = 1 3 5
sus2 chord formula = 1 2 5
sus4 chord formula = 1 4 5

If you know some fingerings for augmented, diminished, sus2, and sus4 chords.....by all means start learning the names of the notes and the names of the chord functions. You will notice that I did not put a link to diminished chord forms. The reason is that there are not a lot of great ways to play 3 note diminished chords on the guitar. More often another note is added. So it is more common to play a 4 note diminished 7 chord. 4 note chords will be covered later. But even though you are probably not going to play 3 note diminished chords for the most part, it is still important to understand the theory behind them.

Part 2 of this lesson will cover how to spell any 3 note chord.

Part 3 will cover how to further apply the theory learned in the previous parts to the neck of the guitar. You will learn how to alter basic chord shapes that you already know to form other types of chords.

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