1. Suspended Chords Embellishing chords 101

2. Aefinition Suspended chords are chords that suspend the 2 nd or 4 th notes of the scale rather then the 3 rd note of the chord. Major chords have the 1 st note 3 rd note and 5 th note of a scale. A suspended 2 has the 1 st, 2 nd and 5 th notes of the scale. It will usually resolve to the 1 st, 3 rd, and 5 th notes of the scale to go back to the major chord. A suspended 4 has the 1 st, 4 th and 5 th notes of the scale. It will usually resolve to the 1 st, 3 rd, and 5 th notes of the scale to go back to the major chord. Classic example is the Halleluiah chorus to Handel’s Messiah.

3. Uses Use these to spice up the A and A chords in many tunes. Also good for endings.

4. Here they are in A.

5. Try the following: 4/4 ||: A A Asus2 Asus2 | A A Asus4 A : || Works well in teach your children. Each chord gets 1 beat Below as an ending: 4/4 |||: A A Asus2 Asus2 | A Asus4 A (hold for 2 beats) : ||

7. Try the following in A: 4/4 ||: A A Asus2 Asus2 | A A Asus4 A : || Works well in teach your children. Each chord gets 1 beat Below as an ending: 4/4 |||: A A Asus2 Asus2 | A Asus4 A (hold for 2 beats) : || Apply these to the next song

8. Teach Your Children

9. Suspended 4 chords Next slide has the 3 main forms and the 2 main Barre forms. Take your time to learn these and apply to various songs. Listen to pop tunes and you will hear it all the time. Brown Eyed Girl uses it during backup of the vocal.

12. Here is a more advanced use of suspended. Below is a common way to play D7 to G in jazz. The D7b5 has the b5 and 3 rd as passing notes to the G6. Very cool. This must be learned as written. The G6 could also be the GMaj7.

13. Suspended Changes This is a handy and effective suspended sequence. The C7sus has a suspended 4th (F). The suspended tone (F) resolves to the (E) with the C7 chord. Notice the great F major chord form that completes the sequence. This technique should be used sparingly otherwise it may become boring. This C7sus form does not have an associated Minor11 form.

14. Suspended Changes Three additional suspended forms are presented above. Notice the "x" in each diagram. In each chord the suspended tone resolves to the respective "x" tone. As these forms all use the 1st through 4th strings the sequence has a very melodic quality. Practice these combinations until they become automatic. They are a powerful addition to your chord database.

15. Explore yourself This is just scratching the surface of suspended chords. Listen to modern jazz and how much of the harmony is built off of 4ths. In analysis this would relate to suspended chords many times. Particularly listen to McCoy Tyner for this type of sound.