WEBVTT
00:00:13.453 --> 00:00:15.708
Now I can teach you about suspended chords.
00:00:15.708 --> 00:00:18.651
So, what is a suspended chord, first of all?
00:00:18.651 --> 00:00:20.795
They're not chords
that just like hanging around a lot.
00:00:21.318 --> 00:00:23.993
So, first of all you need to know what a "triad" is.
00:00:23.993 --> 00:00:26.570
Now, and triads are not
Asian dudes with machine guns.
00:00:26.570 --> 00:00:28.085
In a musical sense.
00:00:28.900 --> 00:00:30.210
So, what we are talking about here
00:00:30.210 --> 00:00:33.322
is a triad that is a three note chord.
00:00:33.322 --> 00:00:34.373
Tri, prefix for three,
00:00:34.373 --> 00:00:35.905
so it's a three note chord.
00:00:35.905 --> 00:00:38.293
Three notes chords consist of a root note,
00:00:38.293 --> 00:00:39.534
a third and a fifth,
00:00:39.534 --> 00:00:41.041
wich is really the first note,
00:00:41.088 --> 00:00:44.800
the third note and the fifth note of a Major scale.
00:00:44.800 --> 00:00:46.804
Now, it's the third note of the triad
00:00:46.804 --> 00:00:49.989
that determines whether the chord is major or minor.
00:00:50.297 --> 00:00:52.705
So, if we were to have a look at, say, an A chord,
00:00:52.705 --> 00:00:57.836
then notes in A would be A, B,
C would be the third, D, E.
00:00:57.836 --> 00:01:01.051
Now, actually, because of the key signature,
the note C would be a C#,
00:01:01.051 --> 00:01:02.702
to make an A major chord.
00:01:02.702 --> 00:01:05.487
If you just go now
and play an A chord, an A Major chord
00:01:05.487 --> 00:01:06.788
. . .
00:01:06.788 --> 00:01:09.735
and then you straight away afterward
play an A minor chord
00:01:09.766 --> 00:01:10.578
...
00:01:10.578 --> 00:01:12.682
you'd notice that only one note is different.
00:01:12.682 --> 00:01:15.197
And that's the C# on the B string,
00:01:15.197 --> 00:01:18.407
second fret moves to C natural note
00:01:18.407 --> 00:01:19.602
(plays) in the first fret.
00:01:19.602 --> 00:01:21.884
So, it is in fact only one note every time
00:01:21.884 --> 00:01:24.685
that changes between a major and a minor chord.
00:01:25.023 --> 00:01:27.022
Sometimes that note is doubled
in your chord voicing,
00:01:27.022 --> 00:01:29.344
just to warn you, it’s just not like
one note on the guitar;
00:01:29.344 --> 00:01:31.571
harmonically it's one note that changes.
00:01:31.571 --> 00:01:33.707
Now, suspended chords
00:01:33.707 --> 00:01:35.994
take away the third of the chord
00:01:35.994 --> 00:01:37.644
and replace it with another note.
00:01:38.013 --> 00:01:41.293
So therefore, suspended chords
are neither major or minor,
00:01:41.293 --> 00:01:43.154
and they have a very airy sound.
00:01:43.154 --> 00:01:45.539
So, if I just give you some demonstrations here:
00:01:45.539 --> 00:01:46.527
A Major:
00:01:46.527 --> 00:01:47.623
. . .
00:01:47.623 --> 00:01:49.577
Old happy sounding A Major.
00:01:49.577 --> 00:01:51.296
Now, if I move that...
00:01:51.296 --> 00:01:53.536
the third of the chord,
which is the note C#,
00:01:53.536 --> 00:01:55.360
if I move that up one semitone,
00:01:55.360 --> 00:01:56.473
to D
00:01:56.473 --> 00:01:57.809
...
00:01:57.809 --> 00:01:59.790
we now have an Asus4 sound.
00:01:59.790 --> 00:02:02.672
. . .
00:02:02.672 --> 00:02:04.302
Here it's kinda hovering,
00:02:04.302 --> 00:02:06.059
it is kind of hanging about a bit, that one.
00:02:06.059 --> 00:02:06.911
. . .
00:02:06.911 --> 00:02:08.472
Then we go back to A,
00:02:08.472 --> 00:02:09.801
. . .
00:02:09.801 --> 00:02:11.706
Now, if I lift off my little finger now:
00:02:11.706 --> 00:02:13.018
. . .
00:02:13.018 --> 00:02:15.855
which is kind of going down...
that note down two frets,
00:02:15.855 --> 00:02:18.422
because if I go down just one
it gets to the minor chord,
00:02:18.422 --> 00:02:19.242
...
00:02:19.242 --> 00:02:21.216
we get an Asus2 chord.
00:02:21.709 --> 00:02:22.707
So, we've got now A:
00:02:22.707 --> 00:02:24.071
. . .
00:02:24.071 --> 00:02:25.188
Asus4:
00:02:25.188 --> 00:02:26.410
. . .
00:02:26.410 --> 00:02:27.122
A
00:02:27.122 --> 00:02:27.835
. . .
00:02:27.835 --> 00:02:28.855
and Asus2:
00:02:28.855 --> 00:02:30.127
. . .
00:02:30.127 --> 00:02:31.390
Quite a simple movement.
00:02:31.390 --> 00:02:34.045
Now, I'm not doing close-ups here at the chords,
00:02:34.045 --> 00:02:35.838
because it's quite a few chords and a few songs
00:02:35.838 --> 00:02:37.240
that I'm going to go through in this lesson,
00:02:37.240 --> 00:02:39.045
so, please go and check out the chords at:
00:02:39.153 --> 00:02:42.922
www.justinguitar.com
00:02:42.922 --> 00:02:45.261
you click on "chords" which is on the left hand side,
00:02:45.261 --> 00:02:47.427
or "chords and scales" I think it says actually,
00:02:47.427 --> 00:02:49.526
and then in the top group
there are suspended chords.
00:02:49.526 --> 00:02:51.813
It shouldn't be very difficult for you to find them,
00:02:51.813 --> 00:02:54.119
and it explains all the different
fingering choices as well,
00:02:54.119 --> 00:02:55.828
so please go and check that out.
00:02:55.828 --> 00:02:58.170
So, that was A chord.
You can hear we had A:
00:02:58.170 --> 00:03:01.342
. . .
00:03:01.342 --> 00:03:02.674
Very common sound.
00:03:03.274 --> 00:03:05.312
That is the A chord.
Now if we move it onto D,
00:03:05.312 --> 00:03:06.375
. . .
00:03:06.375 --> 00:03:07.761
play a regular D chord,
00:03:07.761 --> 00:03:09.529
then we add our little finger down,
00:03:09.529 --> 00:03:11.161
. . .
00:03:11.161 --> 00:03:12.174
that's Dsus4.
00:03:12.174 --> 00:03:13.349
. . .
00:03:13.349 --> 00:03:15.757
Back to regular D,
lift off our second finger,
00:03:15.757 --> 00:03:16.739
. . .
00:03:16.739 --> 00:03:18.162
we get Dsus2
00:03:18.162 --> 00:03:18.874
. . .
00:03:18.874 --> 00:03:20.616
and then back to D.
00:03:21.277 --> 00:03:24.692
Now, just using those two types of chord shapes,
00:03:24.692 --> 00:03:27.207
I can show you
a couple of the different ways it was used.
00:03:27.207 --> 00:03:28.800
The first way you use suspended chords
00:03:28.800 --> 00:03:30.388
is as an ornament,
00:03:30.388 --> 00:03:31.729
it's to kind of decorate when you play.
00:03:31.729 --> 00:03:33.494
So, if you got a D chord for ages and ages
00:03:33.494 --> 00:03:35.571
and you just want to do
something a little bit different to it,
00:03:35.571 --> 00:03:36.764
then it just... you know
00:03:36.764 --> 00:03:38.337
. . .
00:03:38.337 --> 00:03:39.955
If you start to get a bit bored, you could:
00:03:39.955 --> 00:03:45.836
. . .
00:03:45.836 --> 00:03:47.650
You can just kind of add them in whenever you like,
00:03:47.650 --> 00:03:49.877
and they work on major and minor chords.
00:03:49.877 --> 00:03:51.925
I'll show you some tricks on that in a sec.
00:03:52.571 --> 00:03:55.908
Some famous examples
I can think off the top of my head was...
00:03:55.908 --> 00:03:58.420
and old song from the 80's or early 90's...
00:03:59.358 --> 00:04:00.693
"Dead or Alive", by Bon Jovi,
00:04:00.693 --> 00:04:02.319
it's got a really nice example
right at the beginning,
00:04:02.319 --> 00:04:03.297
where it goes:
00:04:03.374 --> 00:04:06.459
. . .
00:04:06.459 --> 00:04:09.252
It's a little decoration on the D chord there.
00:04:10.314 --> 00:04:14.374
Another good example
is "Summer of 69" by Bryan Adams.
00:04:14.374 --> 00:04:16.028
It's actually a keyboard part,
00:04:16.028 --> 00:04:18.010
but that whole song is doing a...
00:04:21.164 --> 00:04:25.180
Yeah, it starts on Dsus2, D,
00:04:25.180 --> 00:04:27.024
sus4, D
00:04:27.024 --> 00:04:28.342
sus2, D,
00:04:28.342 --> 00:04:31.008
and then it goes to Asus2, (plays)
00:04:31.008 --> 00:04:33.212
A regular, Asus4, A.
00:04:33.212 --> 00:04:41.350
. . .
00:04:41.350 --> 00:04:42.453
So you can see then,
00:04:42.453 --> 00:04:45.365
in that instance it's kind of
using the suspended chord
00:04:45.365 --> 00:04:48.080
as a riff, not just as an ornament.
00:04:48.080 --> 00:04:50.982
So, so far we've talked about D Major
00:04:50.982 --> 00:04:52.712
and then going to the sus,
00:04:52.712 --> 00:04:54.334
and A major going to the sus,
00:04:54.334 --> 00:04:57.217
and like I said, it also works for minor chords.
00:04:57.217 --> 00:04:59.144
So if we start with a D minor chord:
00:04:59.144 --> 00:05:00.886
. . .
00:05:00.886 --> 00:05:04.017
add the little finger (plays),
we get Dsus4 again.
00:05:04.017 --> 00:05:05.327
Back to D minor:
00:05:05.327 --> 00:05:06.111
...
00:05:06.111 --> 00:05:08.049
And then lift off your first finger (plays)
00:05:08.049 --> 00:05:09.668
and you get Dsus2.
00:05:09.668 --> 00:05:11.440
So the sus4 and the sus2 are the same,
00:05:11.440 --> 00:05:13.324
just we've put a minor in the middle
00:05:13.324 --> 00:05:14.094
instead of a major.
00:05:14.094 --> 00:05:14.809
...
00:05:14.870 --> 00:05:16.370
So a good example of using that one
00:05:16.370 --> 00:05:18.560
for both a Dm and Am is...
00:05:19.483 --> 00:05:21.001
"Loosing my Religion", by R.E.M.,
00:05:21.001 --> 00:05:22.161
where it's got this little:
00:05:22.161 --> 00:05:31.829
. . .
00:05:31.829 --> 00:05:33.010
You can hear very clearly that
00:05:33.010 --> 00:05:34.519
he's used the suspended chords
00:05:34.581 --> 00:05:35.585
to kind of make a riff.
00:05:36.616 --> 00:05:38.636
Also the Rolling Stones on "Paint it Black"
00:05:38.636 --> 00:05:41.050
kind of uses it on the D minor at the beginning:
00:05:41.050 --> 00:05:44.882
. . .
00:05:44.882 --> 00:05:46.958
It changes a bit to that last part.
00:05:46.958 --> 00:05:47.789
. . .
00:05:47.789 --> 00:05:49.315
Very last bit's a bit different,
00:05:49.315 --> 00:05:51.325
but the first part of it is the sus chords.
00:05:53.418 --> 00:05:56.551
So, that's taken care of Dsus4 and Dsus2,
00:05:56.659 --> 00:05:58.466
Asus4 and Asus2.
00:05:58.974 --> 00:06:00.319
If we go on to E now,
00:06:00.843 --> 00:06:02.102
We have a regular E chord,
00:06:02.102 --> 00:06:04.033
if we put down our little finger
00:06:04.033 --> 00:06:06.490
underneath the third finger,
00:06:06.490 --> 00:06:07.438
...
00:06:07.438 --> 00:06:09.217
we get Esus4. (plays)
00:06:09.217 --> 00:06:10.348
And back to E.
00:06:10.348 --> 00:06:11.585
Now, we can't get...
00:06:11.662 --> 00:06:14.435
There's no such chord
as an Esus2 chord in an open position.
00:06:14.435 --> 00:06:15.916
I mean, there kind of is just later on,
00:06:15.916 --> 00:06:17.288
but for you right now, there's not.
00:06:18.026 --> 00:06:19.337
Because if we lift off the first finger,
00:06:19.337 --> 00:06:21.878
we get to E minor, not Esus2.
00:06:21.955 --> 00:06:23.040
Yeah?
00:06:23.040 --> 00:06:24.263
You can play it like this, (plays)
00:06:24.263 --> 00:06:25.361
like a big barre chord later on,
00:06:25.361 --> 00:06:27.226
but that's not the one for you right now.
00:06:28.042 --> 00:06:30.877
Again, there's quite a few tunes
that use the Esus chord.
00:06:31.477 --> 00:06:33.451
Another good example of that one is...
00:06:33.451 --> 00:06:35.385
"It's Only Natural" by Crowded House,
00:06:35.385 --> 00:06:37.619
which is E, Esus4
00:06:37.619 --> 00:06:42.420
. . .
00:06:42.420 --> 00:06:45.201
Then Asus4 to A
00:06:45.201 --> 00:06:47.736
Asus4 to A and back to E.
00:06:47.736 --> 00:06:49.766
. . .
00:06:49.766 --> 00:06:51.887
Then it goes into barre chords
for the rest of the tune.
00:06:51.887 --> 00:06:52.673
But the verses...
00:06:52.673 --> 00:06:55.070
You can hear it's kind of using it like a riff,
00:06:55.070 --> 00:06:57.374
but it's not really a riff,
it's just a decoration.
00:06:57.805 --> 00:06:58.668
Now...
00:06:59.883 --> 00:07:01.116
the only other ones that I think
00:07:01.116 --> 00:07:02.919
that are kind of useful for you to learn
00:07:02.919 --> 00:07:05.155
as a starting one is maybe a Csus.
00:07:05.155 --> 00:07:06.740
Now, C is a bit weird,
00:07:06.740 --> 00:07:08.079
because remember I told you that sometimes
00:07:08.371 --> 00:07:11.465
you have to change the third of a chord
to make a suspended chord.
00:07:11.465 --> 00:07:13.605
Well, in the case of a C open chord,
00:07:13.605 --> 00:07:16.871
we've got the note E,
00:07:16.871 --> 00:07:17.684
which is the third of the chord.
00:07:17.684 --> 00:07:18.497
It occurs twice.
00:07:18.497 --> 00:07:19.841
So, what I'm just gonna show you
00:07:19.841 --> 00:07:21.703
is a nice kind of decoration,
00:07:21.764 --> 00:07:23.717
but it's not really a true C suspended chord,
00:07:23.717 --> 00:07:25.912
because you might hit the first string.
00:07:26.374 --> 00:07:27.568
There's more of that on the web site.
00:07:28.122 --> 00:07:29.523
But just if you start with C:
00:07:29.600 --> 00:07:30.576
...
00:07:30.576 --> 00:07:32.076
put down your little finger
00:07:32.076 --> 00:07:33.271
in front of your second finger,
00:07:33.271 --> 00:07:34.140
underneath your third
00:07:34.217 --> 00:07:36.733
. . .
00:07:36.763 --> 00:07:38.836
You get Csus4, (plays),
00:07:38.836 --> 00:07:39.633
back to C,
00:07:39.633 --> 00:07:42.524
lift off your second finger, (plays)
00:07:42.524 --> 00:07:44.767
and you get a Csus2.
Back to C,
00:07:44.767 --> 00:07:46.271
which is just a really nice change.
00:07:46.271 --> 00:07:53.079
. . .
00:07:53.079 --> 00:07:55.213
You can hear It's just got a kind of comfortable,
00:07:55.213 --> 00:07:57.358
easy feeling for some rhythm guitar.
00:07:57.358 --> 00:07:58.967
So, OK.
00:07:58.967 --> 00:07:59.896
That will do for now.
00:07:59.896 --> 00:08:01.924
If you want to check out
some more suspended chords,
00:08:01.924 --> 00:08:04.439
I think every open suspended chord I can think of
00:08:04.439 --> 00:08:05.207
is on the web site,
00:08:05.207 --> 00:08:06.452
so go and have check that out.
00:08:07.313 --> 00:08:09.981
And then try and apply them
to any songs that you've got...
00:08:09.981 --> 00:08:11.948
where you've got a chord for a long time.
00:08:11.948 --> 00:08:15.236
See if you can incorporate
some of those suspended chords in,
00:08:15.236 --> 00:08:17.428
to make your rhythm guitar playing
a little more interesting.
00:08:17.844 --> 00:08:18.882
Have fun, see you soon.
00:08:18.906 --> 00:08:19.460
Bye!