B7sus4 guitar chord
Root, third and seventh: the guide tones fix the quality, so the fifth is dropped. That is what leaves a string free, so pick a tension to put on top.
- Tap a note to hear it
- Arrows change position
- Fingers, notes or intervals
- Play the chord
About B7sus4 — shell voicings
B7sus4 is B, E, F# and A — B7 with the third replaced by the fourth.
It sounds leaning rather than shoving. It keeps the flat seventh’s pull and loses the tritone, so it moves without making a hard cadence.
B7sus4 notes and formula
| B | E | F# | A |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | 5 | ♭7 |
Dominant — it points a fifth down, but softly.
Also written B7sus or B dominant 7 sus 4. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play B7sus4
Root, third and seventh. The third and seventh, the guide tones, are what make the chord major, minor or dominant, so the fifth can go: it says nothing the symbol needs.
Three notes means a spare string, which is the real point. Put a tension on it.
B7sus4 has 7 of them, on the low-middle three, the bottom three strings, strings 5-3-2 and strings 6-4-3, from the 2nd fret up to the 14th — all in one inversion, so the bass note never moves. The one to learn first is the B shape at the 2nd fret, which is the easiest grip here.
Start with xxx455 — no barre and only 3 fretted notes. 1 of the 7 shapes here sits in open position. 4 of the 7 need a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 2nd fret to the 14th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| x22200 | open position | B, root position | E | barred |
| x24252 | 2nd fret | B, root position | F# | barred |
| xxx455 | 4th fret | B, root position | A | all fretted |
| xx4455 | 4th fret | F#, 2nd inversion | A | all fretted |
| 797977 | 7th fret | B, root position | B | barred |
| x-x-9-11-10-12 | 9th fret | B, root position | E | all fretted |
| x-14-14-14-12-12 | 12th fret | B, root position | E | barred |
The same notes rebuilt from scratch give 14 drop 2, 9 drop 3 and 6 open string voicings, each on its own page.
Tensions. A shell of B7sus4, root, third and seventh, leaves a string free, and the tones that belong over it are the 9 (C#) and the 13 (G#).
How to use B7sus4
Voice by voice, B7sus4 → E. One voice moves by a semitone, and 2 notes are common to both chords.
| In B7sus4 | Moves | In E |
|---|---|---|
| B, the root | stays where it is | B, the fifth |
| E, the fourth | stays where it is | E, the root |
| F#, the fifth | falls a whole tone | E, the root |
| A, the flat seventh | falls a semitone | G#, the major third |
In which keys. Every note of B7sus4 belongs to C# minor (the ♭VII), D major (the vi), E major (the V), E minor (the v), F# minor (the iv), G major (the iii), A major (the ii) and B minor (the i).
What to play over B7sus4
Every note of B7sus4 is in B minor pentatonic, B blues, B mixolydian, B dorian and B natural minor.
Chords near B7sus4
Change one note of B7sus4 and you have Bsus4 (drop the flat seventh), Bsus2sus4 (the flat seventh becomes a ninth), Bm7 (the fourth becomes a minor third), B7 (the fourth becomes a major third) or B11 (add the ninth).
B7sus4 is a suspended chord — root and fifth, with a second or fourth where the third would be — or nothing at all. Suspended and power chords on every root.
On B7sus4’s sound and use this page follows Mark Levine, The Jazz Theory Book (Sher Music, 1995). The shapes and the derived voicings come from different places, and both are explained in where the chords and the theory come from.