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Exploring suspended chords

1 To get an idea of how suspended chords are formed, we first need to take a look at how major triads are constructed. Here’s our old mate, the C major scale, by way of example: seven notes, from C to B, played on the white notes of the piano keyboard. We can number the notes, or ‘degrees’, of the scale from 1 to 7.

2 A major triad is a three-note chord, made up of the root (degree number 1), the fifth (degree number 5) and the third (degree number 3). This third is important in the makeup of the chord, because the fact that we’ve used the third degree of the major scale is what makes this triad a major chord. So a C major triad would be made up of C, E and G.

3 To transform this C major into a suspended chord, we move that third to one of the two adjacent major scale degrees. If we nudge it from E to F, for instance, we’re going from the third to the fourth degree, resulting in a Csus4 chord ( C, F, G). The missing major third creates an openness; the dissonance between the fourth and fifth creates tension.

4 To form a Csus2 chord, we need to move the middle chord tone back down onto the second degree, D in this case, producing C, D and G – Csus2. We’ve still got that open sound created by the lack of the major third, and this time that cool feeling of tension is produced by the dissonance between the root and second.

5 Like any other kind of triad, suspended chords can be inverted – in other words, the order in which the notes appear in the stack of chord tones can be shifted. For example, Csus4 in root position is played as C, F, G, the first inversion would be F, G, C and the second inversion would be G, C, F.

6 Here’s how sus2 and sus4 chords can be used in a progression. The great thing is that, as they lack a third, they work in both major or minor settings. This eightbar progression in D minor starts with a root position Dsus4 ( D, G, A), followed by a Dsus2 ( D, E, A). Essentially, we’re just moving that middle chord tone around.

7 In the second half of the piece, we revert back to Dsus4 once again ( D, G, A) for two bars, but then this time around we resolve the tension the Dsus4 creates by moving the middle tone down from the

G onto the minor third F, creating a D minor chord ( D, F, A). By doing this, we’ve now firmly established D minor as the prevailing key of the piece. 8 But wait – what if, instead of resolving to a minor triad, we resolved to a major chord instead? Because of the open, ambiguous quality of the chords we’ve used so far, and also because the bass in the last two bars just plays the root D and fifth A, we’re perfectly at liberty to do this, by moving the middle tone onto the major third, F#, to get D major ( D, F#, A). 9 Now, the piece sounds completely different, even though all we’ve changed is that middle tone in the final chord. It’s only when that major third happens that we suddenly feel like we’re in a major key, as the ambiguity of the alternating suspended chords in the first six bars ensures that we don’t really know if we’re in a major or minor key. 10 So, what about four-note suspended chords – in other words, suspended sevenths? Let’s re-examine our C major chord, but this time add the seventh degree of the C major scale ( B) to create a four-note, CMaj7 chord ( C, E, G, B). Just like with the triad in step 3, we simply move the third up onto the fourth, shifting the E up to F, giving us CMaj7sus4 ( C, F, G, B). 11 Let’s use this chord in our final example piece: a four-bar progression beginning with two bars of CMaj7. This inversion of the chord, normally voiced C,

E, G, B, shifts both the root note ( C) and the major seventh ( B) down one octave, creating the voicing C, B, E, G. Sitting on this chord for two bars establishes it firmly as the tonal centre – it feels like ‘home’. 12 In bar 3, we introduce CMaj7sus4, voiced C, F, G, B with the root back up the octave and sitting at the bottom of the chord stack. Effectively a root position CMaj7 with the third, E, swapped out for the fourth, F, I’ve used it here as a passing chord resolving to the F major in bar 4, which wraps nicely around to the repeat of the CMaj7 as the section repeats.