B9sus4 — B dominant ninth suspended fourth chord
A dominant seventh chord with the third replaced by the fourth and the ninth added. The same notes as the dominant eleventh, which is why the two names are used interchangeably.
- 1 = B
- 4 = E
- 5 = F#
- b7 = A
- 9 = C#
- Symbol
- B9sus4
- Root
- B
- Quality
- Dominant ninth suspended fourth
- Family
- suspended
- Notes
- B E F# A C#
- Degree formula
1 4 5 b7 9- Semitones from the root
0 2 5 7 10- Distinct pitch classes
- 5
- Interval structure
- Stacked from the root: 5 semitones, 2 semitones, 3 semitones, 4 semitones
- Notation
- Written 9sus4. The common voicing of the dominant eleventh in funk and soul, and the chord behind many single-chord vamps.
- Key
- B · B major / G# minor key signature
Formula
The chord tones in order from the root, with the interval each one forms above it.
| Degree | Note | Semitones | Interval from the root |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | B | 0 | Perfect unison |
| 4 | E | 5 | Perfect fourth |
| 5 | F# | 7 | Perfect fifth |
| b7 | A | 10 | Minor seventh |
| 9 | C# | 2 | Major second |
Inversions
An inversion is the same set of notes with a different one in the bass. The last column gives the distance of each note above the bass note, in semitones.
| Inversion | Bass note | Degree in the bass | Notes above the bass | Semitones above the bass |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| root position | B | 1 | B – E – F# – A – C# | 0 5 7 10 2 |
| first inversion | E | 4 | E – F# – A – C# – B | 0 2 5 9 7 |
| second inversion | F# | 5 | F# – A – C# – B – E | 0 3 7 5 10 |
| third inversion | A | b7 | A – C# – B – E – F# | 0 4 2 7 9 |
| fourth inversion | C# | 9 | C# – B – E – F# – A | 0 10 3 5 8 |
Playable voicings
These shapes were found by searching the fretboard of a standard-tuned guitar (E A D G B E) rather than copied from a chord book. The search allows every string to sound or to be muted, rejects any shape with a muted string between two sounding strings, rejects any shape whose fretted notes span more than four frets (a five-fret window), requires every chord tone to be present, and then sorts what remains with root-position shapes first and the most compact, lowest shapes next. The shapes shown are the first six of that ordering; other orderings are possible at the same frets.
| # | Shape (low string first) | Notes | Degrees | Bass | Span (frets) | Sounding strings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7-7-7-6-7-7 | B E A C# F# B | 1 4 b7 9 5 1 | B | 1 | 6 |
| 2 | 7-7-7-6-7-5 | B E A C# F# A | 1 4 b7 9 5 b7 | B | 2 | 6 |
| 3 | 7-7-7-9-7-9 | B E A E F# C# | 1 4 b7 4 5 9 | B | 2 | 6 |
| 4 | 7-9-7-9-7-9 | B F# A E F# C# | 1 5 b7 4 5 9 | B | 2 | 6 |
| 5 | 7-4-4-4-5-5 | B C# F# B E A | 1 9 5 1 4 b7 | B | 3 | 6 |
| 6 | 7-4-4-6-5-5 | B C# F# C# E A | 1 9 5 9 4 b7 | B | 3 | 6 |
Shape numbers run from the lowest string to the highest, so the left-hand number is the sixth string (low E) in standard tuning. Multiple shapes are listed because a chord can be voiced several ways, and because a lower position is not always the better sounding one.
Related chords and scales
- KeyEverything in B
- ScaleB mixolydian
- ChordB9
- ChordB
- ChordB7
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