Dbsus4 — Db suspended fourth chord
The third is replaced by the fourth. A fourth above the root is the note a whole step above the major third, so the shape is the major triad with its middle note raised.
- 1 = Db
- 4 = Gb
- 5 = Ab
- Symbol
- Dbsus4
- Root
- Db
- Quality
- Suspended fourth
- Family
- suspended
- Notes
- Db Gb Ab
- Degree formula
1 4 5- Semitones from the root
0 5 7- Distinct pitch classes
- 3
- Interval structure
- Stacked from the root: 5 semitones, 2 semitones
- Notation
- Written sus4 or sus. Resolves down to the major triad.
- Key
- Db · Db major / Bb minor key signature
Fingering charts
The library holds 7 fingerings of this chord and all of them are shown, in the library’s own order. Several fingerings of one chord is normal: the same notes can be stopped at different positions and on different strings.
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 | Db | 0 | Perfect unison |
| 4 | Gb | 5 | Perfect fourth |
| 5 | Ab | 7 | Perfect fifth |
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 | Db | 1 | Db – Gb – Ab | 0 5 7 |
| first inversion | Gb | 4 | Gb – Ab – Db | 0 2 7 |
| second inversion | Ab | 5 | Ab – Db – Gb | 0 5 10 |
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 | 9-9-11-11-9-9 | Db Gb Db Gb Ab Db | 1 4 1 4 5 1 | Db | 2 | 6 |
| 2 | 9-11-11-11-9-9 | Db Ab Db Gb Ab Db | 1 5 1 4 5 1 | Db | 2 | 6 |
| 3 | 9-9-6-6-7-9 | Db Gb Ab Db Gb Db | 1 4 5 1 4 1 | Db | 3 | 6 |
| 4 | 9-9-6-6-9-9 | Db Gb Ab Db Ab Db | 1 4 5 1 5 1 | Db | 3 | 6 |
| 5 | 9-11-11-11-7-9 | Db Ab Db Gb Gb Db | 1 5 1 4 4 1 | Db | 4 | 6 |
| 6 | 9-9-11-13-9-9 | Db Gb Db Ab Ab Db | 1 4 1 5 5 1 | Db | 4 | 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 Db
- ScaleDb major
Related