Amsus1?

you cannot suspend the 3rd with the root..

the 'so-called' sus1 would just be a power chord..

A C E = Am

suspended chords change the third with either the second or the fourth note..

if you suspend the third with the root note (1) then all you end up with is I and V of the chord..

being a power chord...

**

the only way i can see this would work is if it was Amsus#1 .. which would be an unusual way of writing Amsusb2 which would be a valid suspended chord..

but with the sus1.. you cant suspend something with what is normally meant to be there (root note).

More likely it's a typo - Amsus11 is the same as Amsus4.

Thanks a lot Alex, for your explanations. I suspected there was a problem, because I could not find any sus1 in my chord dictionaries. I guess that all that's left for me to do is to pick my guitar and try to find the right chord.

And thaks too, Noteboat. I'll try Amsus11 as soon as I get home.

well, glad its cleared up and we know what was meant..

was i right in my explaination Tom?

Yes, it was right, Alex. You can't suspend a root (or any other note that appears in the 'unaltered' chord). Suspension implies a non-chord tone that will resolve at the change - in other words, it will be a natural part of the next chord in the progression. For the same notation reasons we're talking about in another thread, you wouldn't call it #1 either - if you wanted that note, it would be the b2.

Amsusb2 would be pretty awkward, though, if that's the actual chord... you'd have A-Bb-E. When you see 'clusters' of notes like the A-Bb, it's most often going to be some sort of 7th chord - like Bb-(D)-(F)-A-(C)-E as a Bbmaj7#11 chord. Jazz keyboard players do this sort of voicing all the time, dropping voices that would make the left hand either too muddy (if you included all the chord notes) or unplayable if you tried to space them out. They'll just pick up the notes that give the seventh (so it doesn't sound dominant) and the alteration, add another note or two, and leave it at that... trusting that the bass or somebody else will add a third to give a more complete harmonic picture - one reason why jazz players listen so carefully to what the other musicians are doing.

and what planet are these Jazz musicians from??

lol

I guess that depends - Sun Ra claims to be from Saturn :)

i dont know who SunRa is..

i was just implying Jazz musicians superior brains and abilities to everyone elses means they cant be from earth.

Sun means well the "Sun" and Ra is an egyptian sun god.

so, i'd guess he'd say he was from the sun, oh well.

howcome any unusual chord is categorized as a "Jazz chord" ??

They're really all just chords - there's no difference between a minor 7th in pop music and a minor 7th in jazz. People tend to call extended chords 'jazz chords' because jazz music tends to avoid simple major and minor chords - the basic chords in jazz are the sevenths, in all their varieties, and substituitions, extensions to 9ths, 11ths, and 13ths, and chord alterations are all very common.

It's really those extended harmonies, and the syncopated rhythms, that make it jazz.

so its just cos theyre used more in jazz than anything else?

i dont really like the sound of jazz, or blues..

speaking of the blues..

if b5 is a blue note and b3 also is..

how can anyone play in that scale and get it to not sound diminished when its tonic chord (harmonised) would be diminished?

Because the chords in the blues aren't harmonized by the blues scale. The chords are a basic I-IV-V progression, and each of the chords can be a triad or dominant. If you're doing a blues in C, a typical 12-bar progression might go (one bar each):

C-C-C-C-F-F-C-C-G-F-C-C

While the soloist might be using the C blues scale: C-Eb-F-Gb-G-Bb-C

The dissonance between the 3rd in the chord and the b3rd in the solo is one of the things that gives it the sound of the blues.

ahh gotcha.