Suspended chord

A C major triad, followed by two suspended chords without the third: Csus4 and Csus2.

A suspended chord (or sus chord) is a musical chord in which the third is replaced by a dissonant tone like a perfect fourth or a major second. The resulting sound is tonally ambiguous. The practice is widespread in popular music.

Definition

The term derives from suspensions in counterpoint, where tones of a previous chord are suspended into the next harmony. The suspension creates a dissonance which must be resolved. A common suspension is a fourth above the root resolving to the third of the chord. Sevenths, ninths, and seconds are also common suspensions.[2]

As tonality expanded, classical composers began embracing less functional harmony structured in fourths and fifths.[3] In popular music, it also became commonplace to leave suspensions in place without resolving them.[4][5][6] Popular musicians further dispensed with the requirement that the suspended note originate in the preceding harmony. Suspended chords are commonly nicknamed "sus chords".[7] In chord notation, a number is added to indicate the suspended note, for instance Csus4. The absence of the third creates an ambiguous, open sound.[8]

Usage

Suspended chords are commonly found in folk and popular music. Keith Richards makes extensive use of suspended chords in his preferred open tuning for guitar.[9] He found it integral to his songwriting, "I learned there is often one note doing something that makes the whole thing work. It's usually a suspended chord. It's not a full chord, it's a mixture of chords, which I love to use to this day. If you're playing a straight chord, whatever comes next should have something else in it. If it's an A chord, a hint of D. Or if it's a song with a different feeling, if it's an A chord, a hint of G should come in somewhere, which makes a 7th, which then can lead you on."[10] Joni Mitchell also favored suspended chords because, "so much in my life was unresolved from 'when were they going to drop the big one?' to 'where is my daughter?' that I had to use unresolved chords to convey my unresolved questions".[11]

The Beatles' "The Long and Winding Road" is full of "heartbreaking suspensions", according to Ian MacDonald. "Yes It Is" also relies on suspensions to create a "rich and unusual harmonic motion".[12] The instrumental opening to The Four Tops’ song "Reach Out I'll Be There" (1966) features an E chord containing a suspended fourth, resolved immediately by being followed by an E minor chord. [13] Burt Bacharach's "The Look of Love" in the arrangement performed by Dusty Springfield (1967) opens with a clearly audible Dm7 suspension.[14]

Pete Townshend opens "Pinball Wizard" with a suspended four chord that resolves to the tonic. It is one of the signature motifs of Tommy.[15] Songs with prominent suspended chords that do not resolve include The Police's "Every Breath You Take", Shocking Blue's "Venus", and Chicago's "Make Me Smile".[4] Noel Gallagher relies heavily on suspended chords in Oasis songs like "Champagne Supernova" and "Wonderwall".[16]

Jazz

G9sus4 chord

A common suspended chord in jazz combines the supertonic and dominant chords into one sonority: V9sus4.[17]

Red Garland ends his piano introduction to "Bye Bye Blackbird" on the Miles Davis album 'Round About Midnight with a series of suspended chords.[18]

Suspended chords are a common feature of modal jazz, which emerged in the 1960s. McCoy Tyner played them frequently.[19] Herbie Hancock described the structural chord of his 1965 tune "Maiden Voyage" as "a 7th chord with the 11th on the bottom—a 7th chord with a suspended 4th". Instead of resolving the way such a tall chord would in functional harmony, Hancock simply transposes the chord up a minor third, "It doesn't have any cadences; it just keeps moving around in a circle."[20]

See also

References

  1. ^ Jadassohn, Solomon. Manual of Single, Double, Triple & Quadruple Counterpoint Translated by Theodore Baker. G. Schirmer, 1908. 31.
  2. ^ Randel, Don Michael. The New Harvard Dictionary of Music. Belknap Press, Harvard University Press, 1993. 205f.
  3. ^ Schoenberg, Arnold. Theory of Harmony. Translated by Roy E. Carter. University of California Press. 399–407.
  4. ^ a b Stephenson, Ken (2002). What to Listen for in Rock: A Stylistic Analysis. Yale University Press. p. 88. ISBN 978-0-300-09239-4.
  5. ^ Ellis, Andy (October 2006). "EZ Street: Sus-Chord Mojo". Guitar Player.
  6. ^ Scruton, Roger. Understanding Music: Philosophy and Interpretation. Bloomsbury Academic, 2009. 17.
  7. ^ Strunk, Steven. "Harmony, jazz." Grove Music Online. Oxford University Press, 2003.
  8. ^ Kolb, Tom. All about Guitar: A Fun and Simple Guide to Playing Guitar. Hal Leonard, 2006. 94.
  9. ^ Gill, Chris. Guitar Legends: The Definitive Guide to the World's Greatest Guitar Players. HarperPerennial, 1995.
  10. ^ Richards, Keith. Life. Little, Brown and Company, 2010. 98ff.
  11. ^ Moeller, Jan Clemens. "Comments about Joni Mitchell's Composing Techniques and Guitar Style", Systematic Musicology: Empirical and Theoretical Studies. Edited by Albrecht Schneider and Arne von Ruschkowski. Peter Lang, 2011. 238.
  12. ^ MacDonald, Ian. Revolution in the Head: The Beatles' Records and the Sixties. Chicago Review Press, 2007. 147, 341.
  13. ^ Holland, Dozier and Holland (1966), Jobete Music Co. Inc
  14. ^ Bacharach, Burt and Hal David. "The Look of Love", The Bacharach and David Song Book. Simon and Schuster, 1970. 62.
  15. ^ Townshend, Pete. The Who's Tommy: The Musical. Pantheon Books, 1993. 120.
  16. ^ The Oasis Collection. Guitar Tab edition. Wise Publications, 2010.
  17. ^ Humphries, Carl. The piano improvisation handbook. Hal Leonard, 2002. 353.
  18. ^ Sher, Chuck. The New Real Book, Volume 2. Petaluma: Sher Music, 1991. 35.
  19. ^ Kim, Yeeun. A Legacy of McCoy Tyner from 1962 to 1967: Chick Corea and Kenny Kirkland’s Intervallic Improvisational Tendencies with Pentatonic and Octatonic Scales from 1968 to 1996. University of North Texas, 2024. 13–23.
  20. ^ Kernfeld, Barry Dean. What to Listen for in Jazz. Yale University Press, 1995. 68.

Further reading

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