About Ebsus4 — triad voicings
Ebsus4 is Eb, Ab and Bb — Eb with the third replaced by the fourth.
It sounds suspended mid-air. Played before the plain chord it is the oldest tension-and-release move there is.
Suspended — classically it resolves down onto the third.
Ebsus4 notes and formula
| Eb | Ab | Bb |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | 5 |
Also written Ebsus or Eb suspended 4th. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play Ebsus4
Three notes on one string set. No seventh, so nothing is claimed about the chord beyond its quality.
Thin on their own, excellent over a bass line or against someone else’s harmony.
Ebsus4 has 47 of them, on the low-middle three, the top three strings, the bottom three strings, the bottom four strings, the high-middle three, the top four strings, the middle four strings, strings 6-4-3-2 and strings 5-3-2-1, from open position up to the 13th — every inversion the chord has: Eb in the bass, Ab in the bass and Bb in the bass. The one to learn first is the Bb shape at the nut, which is the easiest grip here.
6 of them sit on the bottom four strings, so you can run the inversions up one set without changing strings — which is the whole reason to learn them as a family rather than as separate grips.
All 6 common shapes as fret numbers, lowest string first. Hover or tap one to see it drawn.
- xx1344, 1st fret, Eb, root position, top note Ab, all fretted
- x6634x, 3rd fret, Eb, root position, top note Eb, all fretted
- x68896, 6th fret, Eb, root position, top note Bb, all fretted
- 11-x-8-8-9-11, 8th fret, Eb, root position, top note Eb, all fretted
- x-x-8-8-9-11, 8th fret, Bb, 2nd inversion, top note Eb, all fretted
- 11-13-13-13-11-11, 11th fret, Eb, root position, top note Eb, barred
How to use Ebsus4
Voice by voice, Ebsus4 → Eb. One voice moves by a semitone, and 2 notes are common to both chords.
| In Ebsus4 | Moves | In Eb |
|---|---|---|
| Eb, the root | stays where it is | Eb, the root |
| Ab, the fourth | falls a semitone | G, the major third |
| Bb, the fifth | stays where it is | Bb, the fifth |
In which keys. Every note of Ebsus4 belongs to C minor (the ♭III), C# major (the ii), Eb major (the I), 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 Ebsus4
Every note of Ebsus4 is in Eb minor pentatonic, Eb blues, Eb major, Eb mixolydian and Eb dorian.
Chords near Ebsus4
Change one note of Ebsus4 and you have Eb (the fourth becomes the major third), Ebm (the fourth becomes the minor third), Ebsus2 (the fourth becomes the second), Ebsus2sus4 (add the second), Eb5 (drop the fourth) or Eb7sus4 (add the flat seventh).
Ebsus4 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.
The common shapes and the derived voicings come from different places, and both are explained in how this site is built.