C#7sus4

C#7sus4 is C#, F#, G# and B, a dominant seventh suspended fourth. The shape this page opens on is written x44422, lowest string first.

Note by note. C# is the root, F# is the fourth, G# is the fifth and B is the flat seventh.

Also written C#7sus or C# dominant 7 sus 4. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.

There are 6 common shapes for C#7sus4 on the guitar, and 26 derived voicings in 3 families.

One note away. Change a single note of C#7sus4 and you have C#sus4 (with one note taken away), C#sus2sus4 (with one note moved), C#m7 (with one note moved) or C#7 (with one note moved).

In which keys. Every note of C#7sus4 belongs to C# minor (the i), Eb minor (the ♭VII), E major (the vi), F# major (the V), F# minor (the v), Ab minor (the iv), A major (the iii) and B major (the ii).

The common shapes, written lowest string first: x44422, x46474, xxx677, xx6677, 9-11-9-11-9-9, x-x-11-13-12-14.

Under the hand. None of the shapes for C#7sus4 uses an open string, so every one of them is movable; the lowest sits at the 2nd fret. 3 of the 6 need a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 2nd fret to the 14th.

Shell. Root, third and seventh: the guide tones fix the quality, so the fifth is dropped. That is what leaves a string free, so pick a tension to put on top. C#7sus4 has x444xx, 999xxx, x4x47x, 9-x-9-11-x-x, 9x44xx.

Drop 2. A close-position chord with the second voice from the top lowered an octave. Sits on four adjacent strings. C#7sus4 has xx4424, 4444xx, xx6677, x-x-9-11-9-9, 9-11-9-11-x-x, x-11-11-11-12-x, x2412x, x4647x.

Drop 3. The third voice from the top lowered an octave. The dropped voice becomes the bass, which is why a string is skipped. C#7sus4 has x2x122, 4x442x, x4x474, x9x697, 7x667x, x-11-x-11-12-9, 9-x-9-11-9-x, 14-x-11-13-12-x.

Tensions. A shell of C#7sus4, root, third and seventh, leaves a string free, and the tones that belong over it are the 9 (D#) and the 13 (A#).

What kind of chord this is. C#7sus4 is a suspended chord — root and fifth, with a second or fourth where the third would be — or nothing at all. suspended and power chords on every root, and what they are for.

The common shapes and the derived voicings come from different places, and both are explained in where the chords and the theory come from.