My Guitar Notes

Eb7sus4 — Eb dominant seventh suspended fourth chord

A dominant seventh chord with the third replaced by the fourth. The same notes as the minor eleventh chord a fifth above minus the ninth.

Symbol
Eb7sus4
Root
Eb
Quality
Dominant seventh suspended fourth
Family
suspended
Notes
Eb Ab Bb Db
Degree formula
1 4 5 b7
Semitones from the root
0 5 7 10
Distinct pitch classes
4
Interval structure
Stacked from the root: 5 semitones, 2 semitones, 3 semitones
Notation
Written 7sus4. Very common in guitar accompaniment because the open shapes are easy to move.
Key
Eb · Eb major / C minor key signature

Formula

The chord tones in order from the root, with the interval each one forms above it.

DegreeNoteSemitonesInterval from the root
1Eb0Perfect unison
4Ab5Perfect fourth
5Bb7Perfect fifth
b7Db10Minor seventh

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.

InversionBass noteDegree in the bassNotes above the bassSemitones above the bass
root positionEb1Eb – Ab – Bb – Db0 5 7 10
first inversionAb4Ab – Bb – Db – Eb0 2 5 7
second inversionBb5Bb – Db – Eb – Ab0 3 5 10
third inversionDbb7Db – Eb – Ab – Bb0 2 7 9

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)NotesDegreesBassSpan (frets)Sounding strings
111-11-11-13-11-11Eb Ab Db Ab Bb Eb1 4 b7 4 5 1Eb26
211-13-11-13-11-11Eb Bb Db Ab Bb Eb1 5 b7 4 5 1Eb26
311-11-8-8-9-9Eb Ab Bb Eb Ab Db1 4 5 1 4 b7Eb36
411-11-8-8-11-9Eb Ab Bb Eb Bb Db1 4 5 1 5 b7Eb36
511-11-11-8-11-9Eb Ab Db Eb Bb Db1 4 b7 1 5 b7Eb36
611-11-11-8-11-11Eb Ab Db Eb Bb Eb1 4 b7 1 5 1Eb36

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

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