My views on suspensions (sus chords) and added-note chords are informed by Vincent Persichetti’s seminal Twentieth Century Harmony. His chapters on chords by seconds, thirds and fourths clarify the idea, put forth by George Russell (The Lydian Chromatic Concept) and others that chords and modes are essentially the same thing.
Most improvisers when seeing the chord symbol Gsus or G7sus would be safe to assume the composer meant a chord built in fourths from G or a G7 chord with the major third raised to the fourth. But why not be specific and indicate the fourth? If we write G7sus4 then that allows for sus2 chords.
If a third can be suspended up, why not down? And why not up to a #4 or down to a b2? These are real sonorities with distinct colors. Below are triad with suspensions, their symbols and an alternative way of looking at them with a different chord tone as the root.
They will be list as such:
Triad with Suspension (ex., R25)
Symbol (ex., Csus2)
Alternative Name if another chord tone is root (ex., D7sus4(no5), Gsus4
Triads with Suspensions
R25
Csus2
D7sus4(no5), Gsus4
R45
Csus4
Fsus2, G7sus4(no5)
Rb25
Csus b2
Dbmaj7#11(no3)/C
Db lyd/C
R#45
Csus#4
F#sus b2, #4(no5)
Rb2b5
Csus b2(b5)
Gbsus#4
R4b5
Csus4(b5)
Fsus b2
For more than one suspension, separate the suspensions with a comma.
Ex.: Csus2,#4. If more clarity necessary, separate parenthetically,
Ex.: C(sus2)#4.
Next: Added-Note Chords
Copyright © 1993-2010 Jack DeSalvo
No comments:
Post a Comment