Eb7sus4 guitar chord
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About Eb7sus4 — 2nd inversion
Eb7sus4 is Eb, Ab, Bb and Db — Eb7 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.
Eb7sus4 notes and formula
| Eb | Ab | Bb | Db |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | 5 | ♭7 |
Dominant — it points a fifth down, but softly.
Also written Eb7sus or Eb dominant 7 sus 4. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play Eb7sus4
Eb7sus4 in 2nd inversion puts Bb in the bass instead of Eb, the 5th of the chord. The notes are the same; what changes is what the bass line does, which is most of why you would reach for it — it lets the lowest voice move by step where the root would have jumped.
One of Eb7sus4’s 6 common shapes does this: xx8899.
Start with xx1324 — no barre and down at the nut. None of the shapes for Eb7sus4 uses an open string, so every one of them is movable; the lowest sits at the 1st fret. 3 of the 6 need a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 1st fret to the 13th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| xx1324 | 1st fret | Eb, root position | Ab | all fretted |
| x66644 | 4th fret | Eb, root position | Ab | barred |
| x68696 | 6th fret | Eb, root position | Bb | barred |
| xxx899 | 8th fret | Eb, root position | Db | all fretted |
| xx8899 | 8th fret | Bb, 2nd inversion | Db | all fretted |
| 11-13-11-13-11-11 | 11th fret | Eb, root position | Eb | barred |
The same notes rebuilt from scratch give 6 shell, 13 drop 2 and 8 drop 3 voicings, each on its own page.
Tensions. A shell of Eb7sus4, root, third and seventh, leaves a string free, and the tones that belong over it are the 9 (F) and the 13 (C).
How to use Eb7sus4
Voice by voice, Eb7sus4 → Ab. One voice moves by a semitone, and 2 notes are common to both chords.
| In Eb7sus4 | Moves | In Ab |
|---|---|---|
| Eb, the root | stays where it is | Eb, the fifth |
| Ab, the fourth | stays where it is | Ab, the root |
| Bb, the fifth | falls a whole tone | Ab, the root |
| Db, the flat seventh | falls a semitone | C, the major third |
In which keys. Every note of Eb7sus4 belongs to C# major (the ii), Eb minor (the i), F minor (the ♭VII), F# major (the vi), Ab major (the V), Ab minor (the v), Bb minor (the iv) and B major (the iii).
What to play over Eb7sus4
Every note of Eb7sus4 is in Eb minor pentatonic, Eb blues, Eb mixolydian, Eb dorian and Eb natural minor.
Chords near Eb7sus4
Change one note of Eb7sus4 and you have Ebsus4 (drop the flat seventh), Ebsus2sus4 (the flat seventh becomes a ninth), Ebm7 (the fourth becomes a minor third), Eb7 (the fourth becomes a major third) or Eb11 (add the ninth).
Eb7sus4 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 Eb7sus4’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.