The magic of sus4 upper structure chords

Unleash Your Jazz Magic: Create Modern Voicings & Improvisation with Suspended 4 Chords!

the suspended 4 chord

The suspended 4 chord is usually a chord that comes before a major triad. It was originally used to create tension by replacing the chordal third with the 4th scale degree, which then quickly had to be resolved to a more stable major triad. 

In pop and jazz music, this chord has become a sound that doesn't always need to be resolved. Instead, its open and ambiguous quality is highly valued by songwriters.

The Sus 4 chord and its inversions

Every pianist is somewhat familiar with triads and their inversions. But what about the inversions we get from it?

Did it ever occur to you that the first inversion of sus4 is actually a sus2 chord with its root being the fourth of the sus4 in root position?  

And when we invert it again, we obtain the second inversion, which yields a stack of two perfect fourths. 

To get you excited about the amazing possibilities we have as improvisers by using sus4 chords, watch the video!
Below the video, you will find my transcription of my improvisation.

Important take-aways from the video

There are three key aspects highlighted in the video:

1. The two-handed rhythmic pattern ("Thinking Like A Drummer"):
   a) Watch the video above starting at 1 min 15 sec.
   b) Check out bar 1-4 of the transcription below. The second version best exposes the "Thinking Like A Drummer" approach, as the two hands are combined into one system.
2. The harmonic changes I made by using different bass notes (both chordal and non-chordal) underneath the Csus4 chord.
   a) Watch the video above, starting at 2 min 40 sec
   b) Check out the transcription below, where you'll see me playing almost every bass note under the same Csus4 chord.
3. The right hand improvisation based on sus4 in root position, in first inversion (=sus2), and second inversion (=double 4):
   a) Watch the video above starting at 3 min 36 sec.
   

Check out the transcription below, where you see me playing almost every pitch in the bass.

"Thinking Like A Drummer" version, with both hands combined into a single staff.

Sus4 Chords Make Fantastic Upper Structure Chords

As I demonstrated in my video, you can use the same sus4 chord as an upper structure chord above almost any bass note, each creating very interesting harmony. 

What are “Upper Structure Slash Chords"? You may ask.

Upper structure slash chords (USSC) are a special type of slash chord. In USSC, the bass note (written after the slash, like in Bb/C) is not part of the upper structure chord itself, which is why an USSC can never be an inversion of a chord, which in turn is the difference to inversion slash chords such as C/E (first inversion of a C major triad).

The following page shows you a Csus4 chord placed over all twelve pitches in the bass and its resulting chords.

As shown in the table above, there are three chords that are seldom used in pop music. These appear in measures [5], [7], and [12]. However, measures [5] and [12] are often used as upper structure chords over altered dominant seventh chords in jazz, while [7] remains very, very, very rare.

How can we use Upper Structure Slash Chords made with sus4 chords?

Like with any upper structure chord, we can quickly realize complex chords. For example, let’s take the second chord in our sus4 upper structure table from above. It is a Dbmaj7(#11) chord. The table shows us how we can quickly play this chord type by simply putting a sus4 chord whose root is a minor second below the root note of the chord symbol. In our example, this means we put a Csus4 chord above the bass note Db. We write this as Csus4/Db. Look at it this way: the Csus4 chord is made of three pitches: C, F, G. Put these notes above Db, and the chord notes are: C (major 7th), F (major 3rd), G (#11th).

To fully utilize this concept, we need to memorize the interval between the sus4 root note and the bass note that produces the desired sound, as shown in the paragraph above. Here is my thought process for playing an Fmaj7#11 chord using a sus4 USSC. I memorized that I can create this type of chord by placing a sub 4 chord whose root note is a half step below the bass note. The bass note in our example is F, so the sus4 chord is Esus. The USSC is therefore Esus4/F.

In conclusion, I think it is an amazing tool worth exploring. It can really inspire your improvisations and voicings.

I hope you found this interesting. If you want to learn more about USSCs, please read this article called Apper Structure Chords, where you also see my A Deep Dive Into Upper Structure Slash Chords PDF.