David, I would have loved that your 100% sus song hadn't end in a fade out. I would have loved to see a creative way to finally resolve the melody and harmony bringing closure to the song... al in sus chords.
Using both sus2 and sus4 is extremely common as a guitar player, especially noodling around an open D or A chord, because it's easy and always sounds great. Kickapoo is a pretty clear example that immediately comes to mind
I saw a Beck concert long ago where he called the little sus flourish on the D chord the "pinky of freedom". If anything, it's even easier on piano, just move that third one key to the left or right.
I’ve been doing this a lot since figuring out this technique a few years ago … to the point where, when I pick up a guitar, my fingers automatically fall into an Asus2 shape. A lot of my improvisation is modal stuff in Am or C since it lets me use all the open strings without having to retune.
I pay my respect to David for his willpower, as he hasn't broken down from his narration style a single time while talking about sus chords for the entirety of this video.
As someone who as an amateur organ player plays a lot of hymns both at home and in church, sus chords are something I play a lot. Something very common is to play sus4 and then sus2 before playing the actual major or minor chord.
Well, not necessarily ending on a Picardy third but sure, if a piece is say in F minor, the final few moves can be something like Fsus4 - Fm - Fsus2 - F. And yes, I believe the Bach Toccata and Fuga in D minor does end that way maybe a bit more embellished. But yes, very common to use these sus chords in hymns.
1:04 For No One - Beatles Crazy - Gnarls Barkley Pinball Wizard - The Who Crazy little Thing Called Love Cold As Ice - Foreigner 4:07 Love Song - Sara Bareilles The Scientist - Coldplay Don't Dream It's Over - Crowded House Champagne Supernova - Oasis 6:57 Exit Music (For a Film) - Radiohead Summer of 69' - Bryan Adams Other Side of the World - KT Tunstall Free Fallin' - Tom Petty
“When the World Is Running Down, You Make the Best of What’s Still Around” by The Police is probably the closest song I can think of to being all sus chords. It does have an Em11 chord in the sequence, but the harmony of the song feels very open and ambiguous much like a sus chord.
I always enjoy when you compose your own pieces, but WOW! This one at the end was stellar in every sense of the word. I might be biased as a stringsman, but the use of nothing but suspended chords sounds wicked cool!
Can we get a video on quartal harmony. I've been struggling to get a full grasp of it, and would love to hear your explanation. Keep up the great work!
McCoy Tyner’s piano work would be the best primer to immerse yourself in the world of quartal harmony. “My Favorite Things,” “A Love Supreme - Part 1: Acknowledgement,” and “Passion Dance” all being great examples of this style of harmony.
3:26 I think it's slightly inaccurate to say that the sus2 chord's resolution is always weaker than a sus4. The strongest resolutions are the ones that contain half steps. When going to a major chord, the sus4 is stronger (4-3 suspension). But when going to a minor chord, the sus2 is always going to be stronger than sus4. But in that case, it's a 2-3 anticipation, resolving upwards. While not technically a suspension, it has a stronger resolution in this specific case
Half-step resolutions do usually sound stronger than whole-step resolutions, but downward resolutions also usually sound stronger than upward resolutions. So sus4 to major is a half-step resolution AND a downward resolution, making it stronger than sus2 to minor, which is a half-step but upward rather than downward. Additionally, major chords sound more resolved than minor chords, because a major third is a simpler ratio than a minor third (which is why the picardy third trick sounds so good), so that’s another count in sus4 to major’s favour. Of course all this stuff about what kind of resolutions sound stronger is kind of subjective, but the proof is in the pudding.
@@SirBenjiful downward resolutions sound stronger than upwards? The strongest resolution is leading up to tonic. And b2 resolving down to tonic isn't as strong as the classic leading tone resolution
@@liam1253 “b2 leading down to tonic isn’t as strong” well, I think it is. Try it out yourself! Db7 -> C sounds just as strong as G7 -> C to me, if not stronger. This is why the ‘tritone substitution’ trick popular in jazz works so well. But ultimately it’s just a matter of opinion. If it doesn’t sound good to you, don’t play it that way! Peace.
@@SirBenjiful in both examples you give the strongest resolution is leading tone resolving up to the tonic. And you're talking about resolving to a major chord. I was talking about minor chords. G7-Cm has a stronger resolution than Db7-Cm because the D in the G7 chord resolves up to the Eb in the Cm chord. And this is also the strongest resolution when using suspended chords.
There doesn't always have to be a resolution, or a destination... sometimes the journey is the destination in and of itself. After realizing I had been playing "Free Fallin'" wrong (with regular major chords as opposed to the sus chords here) I have never been able to look at the song the same way and now the sus chords stand out. I was hoping for this song to be in this video and here it was!
Just a side note: sus2 chords are really just the first inversion of a sus4 a 5th above the root, i.e. Csus2 = Gsus4 which is an interesting thing to play with if you're going for a perfect cadence. Also, those weird 9sus4 chords are inversions of a 6/9 chord a whole step down, i.e. C9sus4 = Bb6/9.
Yes, exactly. For example, I tend to hear the final chord in the Free Fallin riff not as Csus4, but as Fsus2 -albeit with a C in the bass (which I think is there because it foreshadows the eventual melody, as someone else here has pointed out.)
Another great way to use the sus4 is to use its pull towards the major triad to change key. I believe there's an example of this in exit music by Radiohead and it's a really subtle key change Street Spirit also is a brilliant use of both the sus4 and sus2
Your composition at the end is eerily beautiful. Tom Petty's "Free Falling" is an incredible song, although I pretty much think of that bass line as doubling the vocal, rather than changing the harmony of that part. I love your work on these videos! 🙏
I just wanted to say how much I appreciate your videos and how much they help me. Even though I have an Advanced Higher Music certificate, I have difficulty hearing intervals or chords, and these videos are assisting me in my learning!
One use of sus chords that is worth mentioning is to soften the effect of a cadence. A perfect cadence, V->I, feels very strong, partly because of the leading tone to tonic resolution. If the V is a suspended chord, the overall effect is softened, and the cadence doesn't sound as strong or final. A classic example of this is "Tears in Heaven" by Eric Clapton. The chorus ends with a ii->V->I progression, where the V is a sus4 chord. The effect is that it feels like a perfect cadence, but doesn't feel like the end of the song. V7sus4->I feels less "final" than V7->I. The double suspended chord is where you omit the 3rd, but add both the 2nd and the 4th. No uses from popular songs come to mind, but the Raiders March by John Williams uses this to great effect on the tonic in C major. The notes of Csus2sus4 (what should you call it?) are the same as G7sus4 and F6sus2, the dominant and the subdominant respectively. So if you use I -> Isus2sus4 -> I, the second transition feels like a resolution, but to the ear, it's very ambiguous as to whether it's resolving suspensions, or a perfect cadence, or a plagal cadence. The overall effect is of an extremely "soft" progression, raising the tension just a little bit and then releasing it. Since it's Proms season at the moment, there's another example of the double suspended chord in "Jack's the Lad", the hornpipe from Henry Wood's "Fantasia on British Sea Songs".
So excited that you put in Tarkus as an example. Most music youtubers are surprisingly blind for 70ies prog rock even that time was probably one of the most experimental phase in music history.
Enjoyed this, and very much your own composition. Nice work, mate! Sus2 chords are my fave chords that for reasons I can't fathom, appear on hardly any guitar chord box diagram posters. I dig all these tunes, so it shouldn't come as a surprise sus2 and sus4 chords appear in many of my own compositions. A couple of my main musical inspirations, Robert Smith and Pete Townshend, who you mentioned, feature *a lot* of sus chords in their compositions.
I’m a big fan of dominant seventh sus 4 chords, such as Getting In Tune by The Who on the line, “And I’m gonna tuuuuune-“. If you want, you can add a ninth on top.
R.E.M. was a band that heavily used sus4/sus2 chords. Every other R.E.M. song features sus chords, sometimes alternating with the regular chords, sometimes by themselves. I heard that guitarist Peter Buck was inspired by banjo arpeggios early on, and many banjo styles traditionally use a lot of sus chords.
This is amazing teaching. I also really liked your own composition of suspended chords. I sensed that the music expressed being resolved [comfortable with] a sense of being unresolved.
I always love the compositions at the end of your videos. I don't know if it's at all beneficial for you to put them on Spotify or anything, but there's so many I've longed to be able to listen to. Big fan of your Longest March!
I like how you made a tune built around sus chords…the transitions are very smooth!!!…I guess maybe because of the common notes in them!! Great as always David! 👏👏👏👏👏🙂
The sus4 chord has the same "flavor note" as the regular old V7 chord, except it's hidden inside the triad. Gives it a smoother, mellower sound--less flamboyant.
I believe Don't Dream It's Over also goes to a Csus2 as the second chord in the verse progression in what would normally be a Cm in that key, and it's played as a Cm in the chorus.
Excellent video and explanations, thanks. Thanks for including Crowded House. Would be good to see Keane feature one day as their chord sequences seem very interesting to me.
Thanks for making this. I was founding what sus chords are for and their uses that says it straightforward and short like you. This was really a sus video!
1. Flesh out and release the closing track. Dreamy. Gorgeous. 2. Sus chords are basically what I call a "tweener". If you want a sub-dominant sound but want to cling to the root a bit, you plop a Sus4 chord in place of where a 4 might go. The same is true for Sus2 chords in place of dominant 5 chords. They can serve as harmonic substitutions for one another.
Seems like prog rock/metal uses alot of sus2 chords to give a song an ethereal feel, much like you demonstrated in your last song. "Distant Early Warning" by Rush is made up of Sus2 chords almost exclusively, although I think he does throw in a few major chords in the pre-chorus. Sus2 chords are also really easy to play on guitar so I know I like to use them a lot when riffing because they sound a little more interesting than a major or minor chord but tend to work in place of either.
“Distant Early Warning” is a great example of that sound. By this point in Rush’s career, Alex Lifeson was taking a lot of influence from Andy Summers.
Hey David, There's another great example of a song that starts on a sus4 chord, it's Shape of my heart by BSB:) How about some mMaj chord songs in future my friend? :)
Fooling around sus2/sus4 is relatively typical with guitar since it's just holding the main part of the chord but moving just one finger back and forth adds additional "texture".
Nice video. Something that might make for an interesting follow-up video: the difference, if any, between a Sus2 and an add9. I'm guessing that the Add9 has the normal triad at the bottom (3rd included), with a ninth added in above, while the Sus2 gets rid of the third entirely. Even if that's the case, I wonder if they are functionally any different.
@@SirBenjiful I don't know if they are functionally different as you suggest. I think going from Cadd9 back to C does sound (slightly) resolved in the same way as going from Csus2 to C does. As David points out in this video, a Dsus2 chord would not necessarily have to resolve back to D at all. The same would go for a Dadd9. So, practically speaking, there may be no meaningful difference. Since the Dadd9 has one additional note, perhaps it's just a slightly more complex sound, but I wonder if I listener would really hear any difference?
This might be the first one of these videos where not only do I know most of these songs (which is relatively normal), but I specifically enjoy most of these. Over and over again, stuff that’s on my playlists
4:20 Love Song is, to my ears, very similar to a Shepard Tone illusion in the main piano sequence. It sounds like it resolves UP to the tonic and keeps rising. Obviously it does not, so there is either some tricky finger shuffling going on in the voicing for an approximation of the illusion or the motion just tricks my ears somehow.
Breakfast at Tiffanys also has loads of sus chords in the beginning of the verse riff. Your piece at the and has some nice Mike Oldfield vibes in the beginning.
Frank Zappa often used sus2 chords. In fact, if you search around , you can find a video in which Ruth Underwood demonstrates how “Redunzl” is all sus2 chords. I’m fairly sure too that the harmony on “The Black Page #2” is all sus2 chords.
Tangerine by Led Zeppelin also does this in the verse with D-Dsus4-D-Dsus2-D to open its progression. Great video, love these chord progression deep dives!
David you once again do such wonderful example music. This time you seem to pick open the music from my dreams! It ia so nice ot know you can pull that out of my head!
I like the composition proposed at the end of the video! I think a band who wrote songs based on this sort of somewhat enigmatic sound would even have the the potential of becoming my new favorite band ...
David, much as I respect your analysis I think you overlooked the John Lennon song and ‘so this is Christmas’. I’m pretty sure it’s packed with sus chords
When I think of sus2 chords in rock music, my first thought is Alex Lifeson of Rush, their whole discography is full of big sus2 chord hits, though mostly starting around the early 80s. Prior to that, you'd see him use a lot of add9 chords, but then he was like "you know what, let's ditch that third entirely and just go sus2 with it." (He'd still use both, but in any case, he's the guitarist I most closely associate with dialing in +2/9 intervals in his chords, specifically in rock.)
Sus2 chord is great, when you want the tension., starting with V - sus2, which is later released in base minor key... Like Fsus2 ---> Cm... Sus2 is powerful as well as sus4, but in a different way.
Sus4 on dominant (V): note how note 4 is the tonic, ie., the chord virtually SHOUTS that a perfect cadence is coming. Sus4 on tonic (I): note how the 4 note is the subdominant, ie., it may as well be a IV chord / a plagal cadence "feel" is coming.
Us and Them is a great example of sus chords, The Progression starts on a Dsus2 and then a Bm/D (thats the chord the guitar and piano arpeggiate) followed by a Dmmaj7 and resolving to a G/D
Great analysis work; you keep coming up with interesting explorations. Your all sus-chord song sounds nice; thank you for trying that and I wouldn't mind hearing more songs using only sus chords. I agree with you it's odd it's so un-findable. I've also used sus-b2 and sus-#4 in my work, although I acknowledge those are very odd.
Nice examples, thank you! But i missed seeing some insight on the use of sus2sus4 in same chord. I can remember at least one song in hookpad catalog that does that, System F - Out of the Blue.
If That's What It Takes by Michael McDonald alters between sus4 and 11 chords in the verse creating an interesting texture and suspension leading up to the chorus.
Been playing with so-called Blackadder/ikisugi chords (eg G+/Db, augment over a tritone), and they have a similar use for delaying and resolving to V. Because the natural place for such a thing is voice leading between V and I (G/D G+/Db C), but they have more tension than the V, so the other way with G+/Db to G/D is a good release too.
There's a subjectivity involved in this kind of analysis as well. For instance, the Petty tune at 8:36 sounds like a Bbsus2 from the very beginning to me, just played in a second inversion. From that point of view, there's no "recontextualizing" when the bass enters, simply a switch to root position.
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David, I would have loved that your 100% sus song hadn't end in a fade out. I would have loved to see a creative way to finally resolve the melody and harmony bringing closure to the song... al in sus chords.
There is the Sus2 for example The Show Must Go On by the Queen in Bmin ?
It's BminSus2 or F#majSus2.
Using both sus2 and sus4 is extremely common as a guitar player, especially noodling around an open D or A chord, because it's easy and always sounds great.
Kickapoo is a pretty clear example that immediately comes to mind
I saw a Beck concert long ago where he called the little sus flourish on the D chord the "pinky of freedom".
If anything, it's even easier on piano, just move that third one key to the left or right.
I’ve been doing this a lot since figuring out this technique a few years ago … to the point where, when I pick up a guitar, my fingers automatically fall into an Asus2 shape. A lot of my improvisation is modal stuff in Am or C since it lets me use all the open strings without having to retune.
i thought of the same song as well!
Two others that always come to mind are the Byrd's "I'll Feel A Whole Lot Better" and Shonen Knife's "I Am A Cat."
Lifeson uses sus2s all over Rush songs
I pay my respect to David for his willpower, as he hasn't broken down from his narration style a single time while talking about sus chords for the entirety of this video.
i don't think he knows what sus means *_amogus_*
@@majman446 he referenced it in another video so he does
maybe because it was funny in 2019 and we're in 2022
@@SilentAttackTV I dunno, I still shiver every time I hear "sus" in a formal situation
@@SilentAttackTV still tho… you can’t help but think
Mad respect for the song you made at the end. Positively beautiful and serene. Admittedly I could definitely see this being a minecraft music disc.
😊
As someone who as an amateur organ player plays a lot of hymns both at home and in church, sus chords are something I play a lot. Something very common is to play sus4 and then sus2 before playing the actual major or minor chord.
I have that pattern in my head as the default ending to any song on a pipe organ.
Pigerty third?
Does Toccata And Fugue use that? It sounds like it.
YES! I kept thinking church organ hymn endings.
With the last chord adding a deep heavy bass tonic note too.
Well, not necessarily ending on a Picardy third but sure, if a piece is say in F minor, the final few moves can be something like Fsus4 - Fm - Fsus2 - F.
And yes, I believe the Bach Toccata and Fuga in D minor does end that way maybe a bit more embellished.
But yes, very common to use these sus chords in hymns.
1:04
For No One - Beatles
Crazy - Gnarls Barkley
Pinball Wizard - The Who
Crazy little Thing Called Love
Cold As Ice - Foreigner
4:07
Love Song - Sara Bareilles
The Scientist - Coldplay
Don't Dream It's Over - Crowded House
Champagne Supernova - Oasis
6:57
Exit Music (For a Film) - Radiohead
Summer of 69' - Bryan Adams
Other Side of the World - KT Tunstall
Free Fallin' - Tom Petty
for more old school: The Wind Beneath My Wings (Bette Midler), and She Believes in Me (Kenny Rodgers)
“When the World Is Running Down, You Make the Best of What’s Still Around” by The Police is probably the closest song I can think of to being all sus chords. It does have an Em11 chord in the sequence, but the harmony of the song feels very open and ambiguous much like a sus chord.
I always enjoy when you compose your own pieces, but WOW! This one at the end was stellar in every sense of the word. I might be biased as a stringsman, but the use of nothing but suspended chords sounds wicked cool!
Can we get a video on quartal harmony. I've been struggling to get a full grasp of it, and would love to hear your explanation. Keep up the great work!
up up up
No podría estar mas de acuerdo. Armonía cuartal explicada por David Bennet, si si.
pls
He’s literally taught me more than any teacher from school can
McCoy Tyner’s piano work would be the best primer to immerse yourself in the world of quartal harmony. “My Favorite Things,” “A Love Supreme - Part 1: Acknowledgement,” and “Passion Dance” all being great examples of this style of harmony.
That ending track may have been my favorite composition of yours yet.
3:26 I think it's slightly inaccurate to say that the sus2 chord's resolution is always weaker than a sus4. The strongest resolutions are the ones that contain half steps. When going to a major chord, the sus4 is stronger (4-3 suspension). But when going to a minor chord, the sus2 is always going to be stronger than sus4. But in that case, it's a 2-3 anticipation, resolving upwards. While not technically a suspension, it has a stronger resolution in this specific case
i was thinking more about this as the video went on, happy to see it put into words
Half-step resolutions do usually sound stronger than whole-step resolutions, but downward resolutions also usually sound stronger than upward resolutions.
So sus4 to major is a half-step resolution AND a downward resolution, making it stronger than sus2 to minor, which is a half-step but upward rather than downward.
Additionally, major chords sound more resolved than minor chords, because a major third is a simpler ratio than a minor third (which is why the picardy third trick sounds so good), so that’s another count in sus4 to major’s favour.
Of course all this stuff about what kind of resolutions sound stronger is kind of subjective, but the proof is in the pudding.
@@SirBenjiful downward resolutions sound stronger than upwards? The strongest resolution is leading up to tonic. And b2 resolving down to tonic isn't as strong as the classic leading tone resolution
@@liam1253 “b2 leading down to tonic isn’t as strong” well, I think it is. Try it out yourself!
Db7 -> C sounds just as strong as G7 -> C to me, if not stronger. This is why the ‘tritone substitution’ trick popular in jazz works so well.
But ultimately it’s just a matter of opinion. If it doesn’t sound good to you, don’t play it that way! Peace.
@@SirBenjiful in both examples you give the strongest resolution is leading tone resolving up to the tonic. And you're talking about resolving to a major chord. I was talking about minor chords. G7-Cm has a stronger resolution than Db7-Cm because the D in the G7 chord resolves up to the Eb in the Cm chord. And this is also the strongest resolution when using suspended chords.
There doesn't always have to be a resolution, or a destination... sometimes the journey is the destination in and of itself. After realizing I had been playing "Free Fallin'" wrong (with regular major chords as opposed to the sus chords here) I have never been able to look at the song the same way and now the sus chords stand out. I was hoping for this song to be in this video and here it was!
Respectfully, without any intention of being rude, I don't know how you could possibly play Free Fallin' without suspended chords.
Beautiful melody in your piece at the end.
Great vid as always.
Thank you.
Thank you!
Another classic suspended fourth intro is "Carry on" by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young (Deja vu).
I enjoyed the closing instrumental.
Just a side note: sus2 chords are really just the first inversion of a sus4 a 5th above the root, i.e. Csus2 = Gsus4 which is an interesting thing to play with if you're going for a perfect cadence. Also, those weird 9sus4 chords are inversions of a 6/9 chord a whole step down, i.e. C9sus4 = Bb6/9.
Yes, exactly. For example, I tend to hear the final chord in the Free Fallin riff not as Csus4, but as Fsus2 -albeit with a C in the bass (which I think is there because it foreshadows the eventual melody, as someone else here has pointed out.)
The main riff of 'love will tear us apart' uses a Dsus4 chord also. Great video.
As a guitar player, these chords are the best. They sound so ethereally good, and has a sort of sense of mystery and melancholy.
Another great way to use the sus4 is to use its pull towards the major triad to change key. I believe there's an example of this in exit music by Radiohead and it's a really subtle key change
Street Spirit also is a brilliant use of both the sus4 and sus2
Another great video David!! When i saw the title i just KNEW you were going to use "Free Fallin". Nice little outro piece by the way.
Your composition at the end is eerily beautiful. Tom Petty's "Free Falling" is an incredible song, although I pretty much think of that bass line as doubling the vocal, rather than changing the harmony of that part. I love your work on these videos! 🙏
Happy Xmas (War is over) is a great example of a song that uses a lot of sus chords.
Some things never change as far as sheet music goes. "For No One" is in B major. The band Chicago used both of these chords quite a bit.
I just wanted to say how much I appreciate your videos and how much they help me. Even though I have an Advanced Higher Music certificate, I have difficulty hearing intervals or chords, and these videos are assisting me in my learning!
One use of sus chords that is worth mentioning is to soften the effect of a cadence. A perfect cadence, V->I, feels very strong, partly because of the leading tone to tonic resolution. If the V is a suspended chord, the overall effect is softened, and the cadence doesn't sound as strong or final.
A classic example of this is "Tears in Heaven" by Eric Clapton. The chorus ends with a ii->V->I progression, where the V is a sus4 chord. The effect is that it feels like a perfect cadence, but doesn't feel like the end of the song. V7sus4->I feels less "final" than V7->I.
The double suspended chord is where you omit the 3rd, but add both the 2nd and the 4th. No uses from popular songs come to mind, but the Raiders March by John Williams uses this to great effect on the tonic in C major. The notes of Csus2sus4 (what should you call it?) are the same as G7sus4 and F6sus2, the dominant and the subdominant respectively. So if you use I -> Isus2sus4 -> I, the second transition feels like a resolution, but to the ear, it's very ambiguous as to whether it's resolving suspensions, or a perfect cadence, or a plagal cadence. The overall effect is of an extremely "soft" progression, raising the tension just a little bit and then releasing it.
Since it's Proms season at the moment, there's another example of the double suspended chord in "Jack's the Lad", the hornpipe from Henry Wood's "Fantasia on British Sea Songs".
So excited that you put in Tarkus as an example. Most music youtubers are surprisingly blind for 70ies prog rock even that time was probably one of the most experimental phase in music history.
Agreed!
Enjoyed this, and very much your own composition. Nice work, mate! Sus2 chords are my fave chords that for reasons I can't fathom, appear on hardly any guitar chord box diagram posters. I dig all these tunes, so it shouldn't come as a surprise sus2 and sus4 chords appear in many of my own compositions. A couple of my main musical inspirations, Robert Smith and Pete Townshend, who you mentioned, feature *a lot* of sus chords in their compositions.
You're quartle harmony piece at the end really works. Well done!
I’m a big fan of dominant seventh sus 4 chords, such as Getting In Tune by The Who on the line, “And I’m gonna tuuuuune-“. If you want, you can add a ninth on top.
I rarely comment on youtube videos but the composition at the end is really good. Thanks for that.
R.E.M. was a band that heavily used sus4/sus2 chords. Every other R.E.M. song features sus chords, sometimes alternating with the regular chords, sometimes by themselves. I heard that guitarist Peter Buck was inspired by banjo arpeggios early on, and many banjo styles traditionally use a lot of sus chords.
This is amazing teaching. I also really liked your own composition of suspended chords. I sensed that the music expressed being resolved [comfortable with] a sense of being unresolved.
I always love the compositions at the end of your videos. I don't know if it's at all beneficial for you to put them on Spotify or anything, but there's so many I've longed to be able to listen to. Big fan of your Longest March!
Dear David, thank you for providing valuable information.
Thanks for watching 😊😊
I like how you made a tune built around sus chords…the transitions are very smooth!!!…I guess maybe because of the common notes in them!! Great as always David! 👏👏👏👏👏🙂
thanks!
bro, that all-sus song you wrote for the end is giving me some emotions and feels 😢🔥
The sus4 chord has the same "flavor note" as the regular old V7 chord, except it's hidden inside the triad. Gives it a smoother, mellower sound--less flamboyant.
I feel Ike a sus2 chord resolving to a minor chord sounds like a satisfying resolution.
This is such an informative and well put together video keep up the high quality good work
Nice sus4 action in Abacab (Genesis). I particularly like the lead synth part that uses a constant two note 4th interval - very gritty.
I believe Don't Dream It's Over also goes to a Csus2 as the second chord in the verse progression in what would normally be a Cm in that key, and it's played as a Cm in the chorus.
Excellent video and explanations, thanks. Thanks for including Crowded House. Would be good to see Keane feature one day as their chord sequences seem very interesting to me.
Thanks for making this. I was founding what sus chords are for and their uses that says it straightforward and short like you. This was really a sus video!
That last original composition you made on the end credits, is super pretty. 🥰
U2 - Bad, one of the best songs ever, great example of vamping on the sus4 and sus2
1. Flesh out and release the closing track. Dreamy. Gorgeous.
2. Sus chords are basically what I call a "tweener". If you want a sub-dominant sound but want to cling to the root a bit, you plop a Sus4 chord in place of where a 4 might go. The same is true for Sus2 chords in place of dominant 5 chords. They can serve as harmonic substitutions for one another.
Another great video. I've watched so many of your stellar videos I feel like I've earned a music degree.
Seems like prog rock/metal uses alot of sus2 chords to give a song an ethereal feel, much like you demonstrated in your last song. "Distant Early Warning" by Rush is made up of Sus2 chords almost exclusively, although I think he does throw in a few major chords in the pre-chorus. Sus2 chords are also really easy to play on guitar so I know I like to use them a lot when riffing because they sound a little more interesting than a major or minor chord but tend to work in place of either.
Time Stand Still also uses Sus chords in the verses
“Distant Early Warning” is a great example of that sound. By this point in Rush’s career, Alex Lifeson was taking a lot of influence from Andy Summers.
Jimmy Eat World’s “Lucky Denver Mint” forms sus2 and sus4s as the lead guitar hangs on an E with the main chord progression vamping on D, A, Bm
Hey David, There's another great example of a song that starts on a sus4 chord, it's Shape of my heart by BSB:) How about some mMaj chord songs in future my friend? :)
Yes, the melody actually goes around those changes to make it even more noticeable
Fooling around sus2/sus4 is relatively typical with guitar since it's just holding the main part of the chord but moving just one finger back and forth adds additional "texture".
Nice video. Something that might make for an interesting follow-up video: the difference, if any, between a Sus2 and an add9. I'm guessing that the Add9 has the normal triad at the bottom (3rd included), with a ninth added in above, while the Sus2 gets rid of the third entirely. Even if that's the case, I wonder if they are functionally any different.
That’s it, that’s the difference. You got it.
They are functionally different because if the third is there it doesn’t sound ‘suspended’.
@@SirBenjiful I don't know if they are functionally different as you suggest. I think going from Cadd9 back to C does sound (slightly) resolved in the same way as going from Csus2 to C does. As David points out in this video, a Dsus2 chord would not necessarily have to resolve back to D at all. The same would go for a Dadd9. So, practically speaking, there may be no meaningful difference. Since the Dadd9 has one additional note, perhaps it's just a slightly more complex sound, but I wonder if I listener would really hear any difference?
I believe the intro to Peter Gabriel’s “Solsbury Hill” uses both suspended chords of B major. The progression is Bsus4, B, Bsus4, B, Bsus2
This might be the first one of these videos where not only do I know most of these songs (which is relatively normal), but I specifically enjoy most of these. Over and over again, stuff that’s on my playlists
Wow ❤ so useful & application based!!! Nothing better than theory explained with examples of songs 🔥✨💯
Thank you 😊
Your composition sounds amazing!
Ooo I really like that piece you wrote yourself at the end of the video!
Erasure's "A Little Respect" has a ton of sus2 and sus4 chords in it! Even an amateur like me can hear it in that one.
The sus-chords at the start reminded me a lot of "I Love You, Always Forever" for some reason.
That's a beautiful song you wrote at the end of the video
Piano intro to Bon Jovi’s Runaway is a nice example of using both the sus2 and sus4.
Love using these in compositions especially sad or darker music themes
sus
David - our greatest music teacher
4:20 Love Song is, to my ears, very similar to a Shepard Tone illusion in the main piano sequence. It sounds like it resolves UP to the tonic and keeps rising. Obviously it does not, so there is either some tricky finger shuffling going on in the voicing for an approximation of the illusion or the motion just tricks my ears somehow.
Breakfast at Tiffanys also has loads of sus chords in the beginning of the verse riff. Your piece at the and has some nice Mike Oldfield vibes in the beginning.
I must admit that I definitely thought you would choose Happy X-mas (War Is Over) for this video!
Awesome video as always ❤
Frank Zappa often used sus2 chords. In fact, if you search around , you can find a video in which Ruth Underwood demonstrates how “Redunzl” is all sus2 chords. I’m fairly sure too that the harmony on “The Black Page #2” is all sus2 chords.
Sometimes it doesn't stop at just resolving to a major. Close to You uses a Bsus4 and B to get to Bm7, which sounds very smooth.
Tangerine by Led Zeppelin also does this in the verse with D-Dsus4-D-Dsus2-D to open its progression. Great video, love these chord progression deep dives!
I really like that track you made with just sus chords at the end, sounds super cool
David you once again do such wonderful example music. This time you seem to pick open the music from my dreams! It ia so nice ot know you can pull that out of my head!
Thank you David!
I like the composition proposed at the end of the video! I think a band who wrote songs based on this sort of somewhat enigmatic sound would even have the the potential of becoming my new favorite band ...
Loved your composition at the end.
That composition is really good, holy damn
David, much as I respect your analysis I think you overlooked the John Lennon song and ‘so this is Christmas’. I’m pretty sure it’s packed with sus chords
The song you made would be a cool opener for an album
Sus Chords make me feel warm and dreamy
i love using sus2's and keeping them held for a long time, especially if you place the fifth with the fourth, fun sound.
Sus 🤨
Free Falling was the first song I thought of... nice demo as usual 👌
haha I like the piece at the end.. like an itch you can't scratch
Lol! I was thinking "he'll never think of Cold As Ice". Nothing gets past this man. Nothing. 😃
The chorus of I'm With You by Avril Lavigne features sus chords. I've always thought it was a very sophisticated pop song.
When I think of sus2 chords in rock music, my first thought is Alex Lifeson of Rush, their whole discography is full of big sus2 chord hits, though mostly starting around the early 80s. Prior to that, you'd see him use a lot of add9 chords, but then he was like "you know what, let's ditch that third entirely and just go sus2 with it." (He'd still use both, but in any case, he's the guitarist I most closely associate with dialing in +2/9 intervals in his chords, specifically in rock.)
Mildly surprised Rush didn’t get a mention in the vid.
The opening riff to Jump by Van Halen actually ends with a C > Csus2, which I always thought was pretty cool.
So great to see The Who in one of your videos! Keep up the good work! 🎸🤘🎵
Sus2 chord is great, when you want the tension., starting with V - sus2, which is later released in base minor key... Like Fsus2 ---> Cm... Sus2 is powerful as well as sus4, but in a different way.
Sus4 on dominant (V): note how note 4 is the tonic, ie., the chord virtually SHOUTS that a perfect cadence is coming.
Sus4 on tonic (I): note how the 4 note is the subdominant, ie., it may as well be a IV chord / a plagal cadence "feel" is coming.
Us and Them is a great example of sus chords, The Progression starts on a Dsus2 and then a Bm/D (thats the chord the guitar and piano arpeggiate) followed by a Dmmaj7 and resolving to a G/D
Boards of canada does have music using only sus4 chords. I love the sound of that so i use alot of open sus tunings on my guitar
Your lovely piece at the end really demonstrates your point...It was enjoyable, but I was itching for resolution!
Great analysis work; you keep coming up with interesting explorations. Your all sus-chord song sounds nice; thank you for trying that and I wouldn't mind hearing more songs using only sus chords. I agree with you it's odd it's so un-findable.
I've also used sus-b2 and sus-#4 in my work, although I acknowledge those are very odd.
Nice examples, thank you! But i missed seeing some insight on the use of sus2sus4 in same chord. I can remember at least one song in hookpad catalog that does that, System F - Out of the Blue.
Oh my goodness, that song! So achingly beautiful. Have you released it anywhere? It needs to be on my plyalist!
If That's What It Takes by Michael McDonald alters between sus4 and 11 chords in the verse creating an interesting texture and suspension leading up to the chorus.
Been playing with so-called Blackadder/ikisugi chords (eg G+/Db, augment over a tritone), and they have a similar use for delaying and resolving to V. Because the natural place for such a thing is voice leading between V and I (G/D G+/Db C), but they have more tension than the V, so the other way with G+/Db to G/D is a good release too.
Your composition at the end reminded me of Psychedelic Furs - Ghost of you
Does the among us drip song use sus chords?
thanks David!
There's a subjectivity involved in this kind of analysis as well. For instance, the Petty tune at 8:36 sounds like a Bbsus2 from the very beginning to me, just played in a second inversion. From that point of view, there's no "recontextualizing" when the bass enters, simply a switch to root position.