Bb7sus4 guitar chord

3rd inversion · Ab in the bass
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Inversion
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About Bb7sus4 — inversions voicings

Bb7sus4 keeps the flat 7th of , but puts where the major 3rd would be: Bb, Eb, F and Ab.

Let the 4th fall a half step and appears. Keep it held for a suspended dominant sound that does not need to resolve.

Hear the change

The 4th falls one fret to the major 3rd while the flat 7th stays put.

Also written Bb7sus or Bb dominant 7 sus 4.

Bb7sus4 inversions guitar chord diagram: Bb, Eb, F, Ab, played 4x334x
Bb7sus4 inversions guitar chord voicing: 4-x-3-3-4-x.

What an inversion is

How to use Bb7sus4

1The fourth falls, or floats

V in E♭ major

Bb7sus4 is a dominant with a fourth where the third would be. In older styles the fourth falls a half step and the chord becomes Bb7; in modern jazz it often stays, and the sus chord resolves to Ebmaj7 as it is.

Compare with

Listen for: The fourth falls a half step to the third, which holds over the barline as the major seventh of the I.

2A ii–V in one chord

V in E♭ major

Put Fm7 over the root of the V and you have Bb7sus4: a ii–V in a single chord. That’s why one sus chord can stand in for a bar of ii and a bar of V.

Listen for: The upper notes don’t change from the ii to the sus chord. Only the bass moves, to the root of the V.

Other uses

From the books, without a worked example
  • A tune made of sus chords
    modal jazz

    A tune can be built from nothing but sus chords, with the fourth never resolving.

    Heard in “Maiden Voyage”

In which keys. Every note of Bb7sus4 belongs to C minor, C# major, Eb major, Eb minor, F minor, F# major, Ab major and Bb minor.

What to play over Bb7sus4

Useful scales

Every scale

Chords near Bb7sus4

Change one note

Suspended and power chords on every root

The common shapes and the derived voicings come from different places, and both are explained in how this site is built.

Midi Settings

7.5
Play Style
One pass of the pick from the lowest string up, everything left ringing.
Instrument
350
150

Style

Shows each chord the way this style would voice it, and marks which of its alternatives belong to the idiom.

Layout

Left Handed Mode