Perhaps an amateur-ish question...

[maro_chik]

After encountering more and more dim., aug., and sus. chords in my playing, I've been wondering if there's a set *formula* for these types of chords that I can't seem to detect. I know that augmented is up one chromatic note, and vice versa for diminished, but that sounds easier than it appears. And I don't even know what sustained means.

Also, what do numbers like 5, 7, or add7 mean?

 

[discothequeLP]

hmm

about the dim and aug chords i have no idea

the numbers 5 and 7 are easier to see on piano. 5 or 7 mean play an extra note that is 5 or 7 notes from the main note. For example, A7 would be an a chord with an extra note that is 7 notes above the A note.



or something like that

 

[SWlondnr]

http://guitar.to/folder/guitar.html
this is a really good chord generator with extensive notes on chords
-hope you find it helpful

 

[The Sage]

I know absolutely no theory at all...I just play the chords i'm told, I don't ask questions

 

[maro_chik]

I use chordfind.com for my chords. The notes on your link were helpful too, SWlondnr.

I know next to no theory either. I know Asus is just upping the B string a semi-tone... It seems that sus notes are all like that or pretty similar.

Maybe through practicing and more practicing (and a bit of research) I'll get these chords down.

 

[gragravar]

Augmented/diminished/sus/7 chords:

the notes in an augmented chord are all a major third apart. So A aug would consist of the following notes: A, C# and E# (which of course is more generally known as F). A diminished chord on the other hand consists of notes that are at intervals of a minor third to each other so the notes for this chord would be: A, C, E flat and G flat.

A chord described as sus (e.g. F#sus) means that the note which is a third above the root note is raised to a fourth. The chord of A major has the notes of A, C#, E, or root, third, fifth. If the C# (a third above) is raised to a D (now it's a fourth) then the chord becomes A sus. You can hear a nice repeated sus/non-sus chord pattern at the start of The Who's Pinball Wizard.

Add 2 means "add a second note", e.g. add a note that is a major second interval above the root. So if you were playing an A chord with an added 2nd, you would add a B (which is the second/next note after A) to the mix. If it was a D chord you would add an E. And so on. Add 9 is the exact same thing (if you count 9 tones from A you get to B again). A minor second interval would be a B flat and would sound nasty so you usually don't see that around much.

A7 means playing a standard A chord while adding a note to a chord that is 7 steps above the root note of the chord. So the 7th note in this case would be G since there are seven steps from A to G (count 'em and see). In this case the notes would be A, C#, E and G. A minor 7 would mean the same thing but the chord would be A minor, or A, C natural, E and G. Finally, A major 7 isn't the same thing as A7 though it sounds like it ought to be, the major 7 refers to the fact that the 7th note is a major 7th above the root. So the base chord would be A, C# and E and the added note would be G#.

Put a sus and 7th chord together and you get the distinctive chord from The Police's Walking on the Moon which uses a Gsus7, e.g. a chord made of G, C, D and F. The bass is playing a D by the way. It's also the opening chord of the Beatles' Hard Day's Night... hope that helps.