Re: sus7 chords in \chordmode

[Flaming Hakama by Elaine]

From: Johan Vromans <address@hidden>
Subject: Re: sus7 chords in \chordmode

To not answer your question: I would not use Gsus7 since it is ambiguous.
Gsus4 (or Gsus) has a suspended 4th, Gsus2 has a suspended 2nd, so Gsus7
makes you think that the 7th is suspended -- which is not the case.

Well, this chord does have a 7th, so I'm not sure what your concern is.

To play devil's advocate, how do you know if it  is a major or minor 7th?  Simply by convention: all 7ths are minor unless you explicitly say that it is major.  This is just another convention: all susses are 4ths unless you explicitly say that it is something else.  This has nothing more or less to recommend it than the convention we use for 7ths.

 

G7sus (or G7sus4) is the unambiguous way to express this chord.

I think that part of the issue here is categorical, based on context.

Analysis:  writing a chord symbol to describe a specific set of notes
Laziness: writing a chord symbol instead of writing a specific set of notes

Improvisation: writing a chord symbol to give direction as to the musical context

For starters, I think it is fair to say that these are different musical contexts and we should not expect that conventions should be the same.

For the purposes of analysis and laziness, there can be no denying that the more specific versions you recommend are better.

But for improvisation, it tends to be irrelevant at best, and writing sus7 can even avoid some problems.

As I'm sure you're aware, In terms of improvising chords in Jazz, chordal players tend to play some, but not all, of the actual notes in the chord, and then add more colorful, related notes, that are not explicitly within the chord.

When chord symbols are used by melodic instruments, of course there are no chords whatsoever being played by the person interpreting the chord symbol.  The chord symbol is mainly used to interpret what scale is appropriate to play (as well as its musical function.) 

In this usage (the context of the OP) there are rarely cases where adding a 2 to a sus4 or a 4 to a sus2 chord would sound "wrong".  The underlying scales are arguably identical, so there is no musical difference among these chords (in this context).  You are making a distinction without a difference.

Furthermore, I just did a quick check at a dozen or so real books to see if I was crazy (turns out, I am).  But enough about me.  My point being, while I did notice a wide variety notations for sus chords (with 7sus4 being the most common, and more so among the more professional books) not a single chord I ran across used any suspension other than a 4!

Which is to say, this alleged need to distinguish sus2 from sus4 chords in the context in which the OP is interested, is basically a non-issue, and it is easy enough to add the 2 if that's what you need.

The more constructive thing I would add about why I personally prefer the sus7 notation (besides economy with no lack of clarity) is that it describes the notes from left to right in the correct order.  It always seems weird to me to see notations like C7#5, since as you parse the chord, you start by specifying a dominant chord, then change one of the notes that you already implicitly specified.  Why not just specify what it actually is from the get-go?  There are some cases where I haven't figured out a better approach, like C7b5.  But in general I think it is best to specify chords more directly by chord type, rather than indirectly, by specifying the wrong chord type and then patching it up at the end. 

In this sense, the notation 7sus4 contains a little bit of a notational dissonance.  Is it a dominant chord or not?   Since it is a sus chord, not a dominant chord, I think it makes more sense to put the sus next to the root name, rather than the 7. 


In terms of practicality, my belief is that you will hear fewer thirds in your chords, due to reading mistakes, if you use sus7 notation than 7sus4, since some people will inevitably see the "G7..." and play a dominant variety voicing, including the one note you really don't want.



David Elaine Alt

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