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Home > Guitar Music Theory

Chord Construction - 3 Note Chords - Part 2

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Spelling sus2 and sus4 chords

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Building sus2 and sus4 chords is going to take an extra bit of information. You are going to need to understand how 2 and 4 relate to our 3 and b3. Remember that all natural notes are a whole step apart, except between E-F and B-C. So if we look at a C major scale, the half steps fall between the 3rd and 4th degrees of the scale, and the 7th and 8th degrees (or 1 an octave higher).

 

 

 

 

 

C major scale

C D E F G A B C
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
W W H W W W H


W = Whole step
H = Half step


Half step relationships

2 b3 3 4
\/\/\/
H H H

b3 is up a half step from 2
3 is up a half step from b3
4 is up a half step from 3

So therefore you can learn to spell any sus2 or sus4 chord by altering the major and minor chords that you can already spell.

2 = a whole step lower than 3
2 = a half step lower than b3

4 = a half step higher than 3
4 = a whole step higher than b3

So a C chord is C(1), E(3,) G(5).
major = 1 3 5 (C E G)

Knowing that the formula for sus2 is 1 2 5, you will lower the E(3) to a D(2) in a Csus2 chord.
sus2 = 1 2 5 (C D G)

Knowing that the formula for sus4 is 1 4 5, you will raise the E(3) to an F(4) in a Csus4 chord.
sus4 = 1 4 5 (C F G)

 

Page 4, More examples

Page 6, Dsus2, Dm, D, and Dsus4

 



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