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Music Theorists, I have a question about suspended chords. Do you think you could help me?

In a root position Dsus4 chord there are the notes D, G and A in that order. If I play a Dsus4 in the first inversion, the note order becomes G, A, D. Now, the notes G, A and D in that order is the chord Gsus2. A Dsus4 is considered the same chord when inverted the same way C is still C when it's inverted. Does this imply that a Dsus4 is the same chord as Gsus2? Is this a notation glitch or do inverse suspended or inverse retarded chords not exist? How can they not exist if instruments like the guitar play the three notes in the chord in any order? I've already stumped one professor with this question.

1 Answer

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  • bka
    Lv 7
    7 years ago

    yeah, those 3 notes have two names. thats fine.

    actually they could also be thought of as a a quartal chord built on G (G D A)

    (chord based on 4ths instead of 3rds)

    context matters. a sus4 is named that because the 4 is considered a suspension that would like to fall to 3, giving you D F# A. so if the chord before and/or after it was some kind of D chord, you would be more likely to perceive it as Dsus4 instead of Gsus2.

    but if everything around it was nontertian chords, you would probably analyze it as a quartal chord.

    also remember, when playing with others, the guitars choice of voicing cant change the inversion if the bass or keyboard is playing a different bass note.

    ----

    if you are going back and forth between classical theory and pop/jazz theory, you will find the pop stuff often has different names for the same chord.

    for example, a G6 in pop would be the notes G B D E

    which is exactly the same as Em7 in first inversion (often called Em7/G in pop charts)

    in classical, you would never name it G, because G is the bass, not the root, and classical theory names chords for the root.

    in pop or jazz, your reason for using G6 could be to clarify a continuity of voicing, because people are actually performing from the chord symbols.

    classical symbols are for analytical purposes, not practical ones.

    a good pop musician still *knows* that G6 is Em7/G, they just prefer being able to read it the way that is clearer in context.

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