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Who do you think's gonna win the 2021 F1 World title? Noticed you were a McLaren fan in a few of your videos that needed a raid of a wardrobe for many characters :D - If anything the F1 title is a little sus, not sure how it's going to resolve ;) -
charles, i want to buy the intro lessons, but im from Honduras, a country in Central America, but its asking for a physical address when i try to make the purchase, can i skip that part?, or do u do send whatever you send to outside the US? or will the lesson just be online?
By the way fun fact, both sus4 and sus2 chords are just stacks of 5ths Sus4 goes one extension lower (F-C-G) and sus2 goes one extension higher (C-G-D) Also, a Csus2 has the exact same notes as Gsus4
Actually sus#4 chord sounds so beautiful to me when it resolves to major triad chord, especially when major add9 chord goes to major add9#11 chord and goes back to major add9. Lydian scale have this amazing #4 quality (#11 in octave higher) making it sound so ethereal and spacey. Heh I actually like to call this Angel's tritone. :D
Hi Charles, love your content. Mark Levine talks about sus chords that include both the suspended note and the major third together in certain sus voicings. It's a nice sound when spread. I believe Herbie used the sound, maybe even in Maiden Voyage. It's an interesting concept. The fact that they're both the ii and the IV chord over the V just intensifies the suspense!!
Hey, I just think, when you have the third, the "sus notes" are called "add notes". For example, C(add 9) or C(add 11). It goes beyond the octave since they're additional notes. Sus notes are when you don't want to specify whether it's a Major or a Minor. At least that's what I've believed so far. Correct me if wrong ✌🏼
I think you're all right! If I see "add" in a chart, I'll know exactly what it means. If I see sus13 or something like it, I'll know what that means, too. I'll sometimes find myself adding the 3rd anyways if it feels defined enough. But these are all great points! Generally I find that the more you fill the sound up, the more everything kind of works. If it's major, it still sounds somewhat sus even with the 3rd, and if it's minor, you end up in dorian, which is also dope.
Part of the origin of the term "suspended" comes from voice-leading and counterpoint as well; usually, the suspended tone would sound before the full suspended chord. So, if you had a resolution of Fsus4 to F major, the Bb in Fsus4 would probably sound as the b7 of C7, but then remain sounding during the F chord (creating the sus4), and then resolve. In other words, it suspends a tendency tone of a preceding chord into the chord it will resolve to. Music has obviously developed and changed, so people now will play sus chords in and of themselves, but the origin related to counterpoint.
@@iCresto Sus2 usually was related to bass motion actually! You'd typically see it as a "2-3 suspension", which is unintuitive to people new to theory since suspensions are supposed to resolve by downward motion. The thing is that the suspension actually resolves by bass motion; if we have Fsus2, we have F G and C; so, if F is the bass, then F moves down to E, and we see it being the case that in reality, it's the bass note that is held over, rather than the supposedly "suspended" tone of the G! This means that before the Fsus2, to prepare the suspension, you would probably have G7 in third inversion (in classical terms, V4/2), since the b7 of course resolves downwards, and the point of suspensions is suspending the resolution of a tendency tone. So, the G isn't the dominant of C, in fact, it is part of the C major chord itself! G is simply acting as the fifth in a C major chord (in first inversion -- F in the bass resolving to E = Cmaj/E)
@@sihplak Noodled around on the keys with G7/F - Fsus2 - C/E and damn it makes more sense now! I somehow knew how the resolved sound would sound like but never understood the theory behind. With your explanations of the sus2 and sus4 chords, I feel more enlightened (lol). On a side note, is it just me or does the sus4 resolution sound more "complete" than the sus2 resolution (with your example above)?
@@iCresto Your thoughts on the completeness of resolution is correct; the sus4 resolution (at least in the example I gave) is contextualized as a V7 to I cadence, also known as a "perfect authentic cadence" (V-I motion, root of I chord in both bass and soprano voices, both chords root position). The sus2 example is either not in a cadence or would be in an "imperfect authentic cadence" (V-I motion is still there but doesn't meet the perfect authentic cadence requirements); as such, that motion doesn't sound as strong, though that doesn't mean it's bad; in fact, weaker cadences are good, because strong cadences might make it feel difficult to continue a piece of music given the arrival to such a strong cadential point. So, given this, you'd probably find a sus2 chord in the middle of a longer passage as a way to create harmonic and rhythmic interest, or you'd find it at the end of a part of a smaller phrase. For instance, in a rounded-binary form of A|BA, the B section may "end" with a sus2 in order to transition smoothly into the return of the ending of the A section.
Hey Charles, I would very much like to see your analysis of Spartacus - love theme. Wonderful simplicity and very emotional. Thanks for all your videos! Much love. oh, and Bill Evans's version is just something!
As a complete beginner, it feels like a suspended chord would be a great way to pivot your piece towards another verse, or towards a conclusion. Do you see them lots just before a da capo?
you can use them for so many different things, and transitions are one of those things. the question is, what transition will you create with those sus chords?
Sus chords are fun for playing with expectations. One of my favorite examples has a C sus4 followed by A major (1st inversion). Subverts expectations and makes a great lead-in back to the tonic D minor. (I found this particular example in "The Glade" from the Dust: An Elysian Tail soundtrack.)
Great vid. Thanks for the breakdown! Radiohead’s Everything in its Right Place is also loaded w sus chords. Robert Glasper has an incredible jazz mashup version of Everything + Maiden Voyage.
I love your content man. I found your channel a while ago with your breath of the wild video and you have become my favorite pianist on RU-vid. Keep making amazing work!
Another great video! I wish some music theory videos picked up on the fact that the notion of suspense and release are taught feelings, taught responses to musical markers. We are immersed in our own culture since birth. I am all for it, western music theory is an excellent and exiting language. Still, it is sort of borrowed "memories", if you see what I mean.
Great explanation, great camerawork, hilarious and informative, I haven't learned such a useful concept in music theory in probably a decade. Thank you.
I remember learning in college that suspended chords have non-chord tones suspended from the previous chord. I was taught that the twin to a suspension is an “anticipation” that has non chord tones from the next chord. Was I taught wrong, or is there an old historical reason? Even if completely wrong, it’s a helpful way to think about it.
Yes, that's what was taught to me as well. In the F major example, the B flat is suspended from the previous chord, C dominant 7. The other notes of C7 resolve to notes in F major, except the B flat which remains suspended. I think it came from contrapuntal techniques, but modern usage seems to ignore the notion of harmonic motion and simply means the use of 2 or 4 in place of 3.
@@PatrickLienCT Interesting. Both definitions point to useful ideas at least. No harm in knowing both as long we’re aware of which to use when talking to other musicians lol
Great explanation. These terms scared me for over 50 years, though I studied music theory for 2 years in high school. I’m 72 and playing a Martin D-18, and I’m hungry to learn the mysteries of sus chords and terms like B over A, etc. Your explanation is great. Thank you.
5:52 That reminded me so much of Howard Jones' music - especially his "Pearl in the Shell" live performance from "Live Acoustic America" Oddly specific but that song immediately came to mind
Hey Charles, with the upcoming release of a Halo Infinite, I’ve been listening to a fair amount of music from the older games. A piece called “Deference for Darkness” really stood out. It’s moving and a very emotional soft sounding piece. Would love to see a breakdown of it! Cheers!
sus chords are also super important to Irish and Scottish trad music. Uilleann pipes are a good example, as they often use the Dorian mode starting on E, but the Drones are tuned DAD so the tune always "resolves" to a sus4. Similar for the Scottish Highland pipes but on Cminor with Bb drones. Guitar backing is a relatively modern phenomenon but the style has developed to also use suspensions and other user extensions over drones or walking baselines to leave things sound more open and undefined. Included is a link with some examples. *Edit: Adding more links because Aodan Coyne is amazing and a joy to listen to. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-olS8qxojvBk.html ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-LjGAIrSGGRo.html ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-caqEpN-lPWg.html
@@InventorZahran Yep! Originally the Scottish Highland Bagpipes were in A mixolydian (the border/reel/half-longs still are for ease of playing fiddle tunes) but through their martial association the need for them to be bigger, louder, and brighter sounding caused the tone to shift upwards over the centuries. There is some speculation that this change also happened to accompany military brass bands which are also in Bb, but evidence for this is scant. Most modern sets are not in A=440hz and play Bb sharper, but there are some specialty sets now being made to A=440hz. Oddly enough despite being in Bb, The Great Highland Bagpipes are actually a D transposing instrument (Written C sounds D) because all of the written music is still written in A mixolydian.
I watch practically every one of these videos from Charles, adam neely, and Jacob Collier knowing full well that I don't have a clue what is going on half the time. I can barely read music and I don't know my scales, but damn it all, I will binge watch anything about music composition and theory. The math is cool tho... and I can understand how that works. 10/10
Slightly spooky: I was just searching RU-vid for videos about 7sus4 chords the other day, and now the algorithm seems to have summoned Charles to make a video just for me! I’d been working through variations of 7th chords and had been half expecting to find that 7sus4 chords weren’t really a thing, and were actually an inversion of something else, so it’s delightful to find more examples of how useful they are. I love their floating, non-functional feel, a bit like quartal harmony but with the 5th in there to make it just a bit more grounded.
I think you just leveled up the piano/guitar Duo I am apart of!!!! I play guitar, so it was hard visually to understand, but the way you SAID all of this knowledge, i totally grasped!! I am sending the link to my paino dude right now, hus mind will be blown also! So glad i found this, thank you so much!!
Video suggestion: make a video about the different types of diminished chords (and if you'd like, the diminished scale as well). I've always been confused as to which type of diminished chord is which since there's several types of them.
I started learning jazz cause i think jazz is cool and more free.and for me,it's the hardest genre to learn.but I honestly want to give up on learning jazz these past few months cause it's so hard.but then i saw your video of Imagine by John Lennon then i started a video marathon of your videos and you videos are not boring btw so i subscribed 😂 then i realized,i want to play like that too.You inspired me sir to push my very limits and i set my goal to be as good as you.You play so beautiful and i see you as a good person.Thank you sir for inspiring me and i hope you read this cause this is the least i can do for you ♥️😊 sorry for the essay lol
this is great! the way you explained this whole thing and your approach to the feelings within the chords is just amazing. It reminded me of the great Ben Zander. I hope to see more educational videos of this type from you.
Now that I think about it, doesn't a good amount of deep house and (liquid) drum 'n' bass use a good amount of suspended chords? Old electronic music also did those iconic semi-transposed chords (since you could just code a chord for a key on the older synths and then play that chord up and down; though it ofc didn't transpose properly, so each chord had it's own mode almost), and it often gave off a very jazzy vibe. It's honestly one of my favorite musical aesthetics, even if it's actual execution and origins are quite simple.
I might be wrong, but as far as I remember the Picardy third is a different thing. It is a case where you end up your music using major third instead a minor (expected) one in your final cadence. It is not really suspension, it is a different resolution. Cheers 😊
Since I never learned reading notes it's really interesting to see that I do all these things subconciously in my melodies. Now I understand why it works out. Before I had never heard that you can suspend and resolve a sound but when I look at my music I've been doing it all along. I just didn't know the theory behind it.
I have a question, Mr. Cornell. As an "accompanist" pianist, why do 9 chords sound... oddly full/chunky and am I playing it right by playing it as the "2" in a normal 1-3-5 chord?
I'm only here cause i liked that 8 note sus chord in the thumbnail though i know dozens of voicings but not that one so i played it in every key a couple of minutes ago.......thanks!
Hi Charles, when you're right-reading something could you please include the sheet music in the video as you're reading it? Would help those of us who are trying to follow along a lot, thanks!
Charles, I highly recommend you to listen to Toninho Horta. He is a Brazilian musician celebrated by Tom Jobim as one of the best harmonists we have. Some songs for you to start with: Aquelas Coisas Todas; Eternal Youth; Yarabella; Liana; Céu de Brasília and so on. It would be awesome to watch a whole video of you talking about one of his songs! Thank you very much.
Can you do a video on suspended 4 b9 chords? Ik it's not the most popular chord there is but it's my favorite and worth mentioning. As always, I love your humor as well as your videos and content... Thank you, Charles. Looking forward to more.
