Dsus help

redant

Hi

I need a little help. I am a very "plain" player and have always tended to stick/revert to playing a simpler version of a chord if possible.
I do need to brush up a bit, and advance somewhat.
Could someone please help me out.

Dsus/A Dsus/F Dsus/G

If you look at that progression, how would you play that?
I have looked those chords up on the net, and it does not make sense to me at all.
Is there a simpler way?

Also - what is the theory behind that? Is it a Dsus and then the basenote of the /* chord?

Thanks in advance.
Redant

NorioDS

It's basically a Dsus chord played with A as the root, then F as the root and G as the root. Or rather, not root, but lowest sounding note. It colours the chord a little but I'm sure someone else can provide a better explanation with chord diagrams.

evolucian

The suspended chords are where the 2nd or the 4th replaces the 3rd of the chord (the 3rd signifies whether the chord is major or minor).

Sus in this instance of your example... I'm going to assume its the 4th. so play a sus4 chord (in D open it would ((from low E)) x-x-0-2-3-3)

Now whenever you see a chord that has a slash and a note after it (xx/G) it means that that note is in the bass of the chord.

So Dsus/G would look something like 3-x-0-2-3-3.... although this voicing I gave sounds more like Gadd 9... but that doesn't matter... inversions and stuff... hope this helps

PeteM

Firstly the Dsus chord (also known as Dsus4) adds a suspended 4 note of the major scale to the D major chord. In this case the note G, and usually replaces the 3rd note of the major scale which in this case is the F#.
So the chord Dsus or Dsus4 is made up of the notes D G A. On guitar, the simplest Dsus chord is played with:

an open D note on the 4th string
The A note at the 2nd fret on the 3rd string
Another D note at the 3rd fret of the 2nd string
And the G note at the 3rd fret of the 1st string

A forward slash means that you must add a specific bass note to the chord which replaces the root bass note - in this case the bass note D. These notes are known as pedal bass notes, and are sometimes written thus: Dsus ped A

EVO got in before me but I've still decided to post mine - it explains it in a different way. Hope it doesn't confuse you more.

redant

Thanks everyone. I've read up on the net about these chords, and I understand them a bit.
Still, if you had to play those three chords in fairly quick succession, what would your tab be?

RedanT

evolucian

Now that is being lazy.... naughty naughty

chris77

Hey Redant, what song is it you're trying to play?

redant

Far from it. In fact, been sitting with this for hours, and it still does not sound right.

Song is King of wishfull thinking by Go west:

Chorus

C F G Am
I'll get over you, I know I will

C F G Am
I'll pretend my ships not sink-ing

C F G Am
And I'll tell mysef, I'm over you

C/E Dm7 Dsus/A Dsus/F Dsus/G
Cause I'm the King of wishful thinking -----------------------

C Am F G
I am the King of wishful thinking

evolucian

My only guess... without being able to listen to the track would be something like this:

E||--1----------------|--3----------------|--3----------------|
B||--1----------------|--3----------------|--3----------------|
G||--2----------------|--2----------------|--2----------------|
D||--0----------------|--0----------------|--0----------------|
A||-------------------|--0----------------|-------------------|
E||-------------------|-------------------|--1----------------|


  W                  
--3----------------||
--3----------------||
--2----------------||
--0----------------||
-------------------||
--3----------------||

And the F on the first fret would be easier with the thumb which would help in muting the A string... this is only a guess as the song is not in my collection

Keira-WitherKay

redant wrote: C F G Am
I'll get over you, I know I will

C F G Am
I'll pretend my ships not sink-ing

C F G Am
And I'll tell mysef, I'm over you

C/E Dm7 Dsus/A Dsus/F Dsus/G
Cause I'm the King of wishful thinking -----------------------

C Am F G
I am the King of wishful thinking

ok 1st question is the music you sourced reliable.there are so many and i mean so many incorrect transcriptions on the net ...so 1st check that ...

then yeah evolution and Petem both described how to play the chord...........

well maybe it'll help if you understand what the line is trying to do .......... as in why it was written like that .......songs are ussually composed with an intentional purpose in creating movement

song is in key of C ...... witrh the main chords being a repetive I IV V VI group of chords........ the second last line as you can see starts with a C /E so a C chord with an E bass note ....... so it sets up the bass line..... and this is what the composer is trying to do... let the bass move

from E - D -A (all descending ) then ascending from F-G and that G note is the V note that sets up the I chord that it resolves to in the next line.......... so basically just a moving bass line over the chords..........

i could explain it better if i actually knew the song but sure you get whats trying to be achieved by all the bass movement ....and also it breaks the repetive I IV V VI sequence which is used in 4 of the 5 lines of the song ...the 5th line is just slightly reshuffled to a I VI IV V .so adding some spice to a very predictable progression .........

maybe that helps some......

DonovanB

I know that song. I think Keira has it here, that doesnt sound right to me.

although that said I dont have the song here to figure it our for you. :-\

chris77

No Idea how to play what those tabs say, but what works is this:

When you play the Dm7, you have your pinky free right?
Hammer the Pinky on the G-note on the bottom string (accent on the middle to latter paty of 'wishful')
Then two quick chord changes to open G and Am,
which bring us back to C in the next line.

Not 100%, but its close enough for me. I often play my own chords that sound right to me rather than worry too much about how someone else plays it

I only recall the chorus of this song and i have no idea how the verses go, but that switch in the last line where the F an G change positions from the rest of the Chorus doesnt sound right either. It goes from low to high, which kinda leaves the chorus hanging there. The again, maybe it was writtten that way.

Bob-Dubery

redant wrote: Hi

I need a little help. I am a very "plain" player and have always tended to stick/revert to playing a simpler version of a chord if possible.
I do need to brush up a bit, and advance somewhat.
Could someone please help me out.

Dsus/A Dsus/F Dsus/G

If you look at that progression, how would you play that?

There's been some discussion around the theory which results in those chords. This, of course, doesn't tell you much about playing them ?

What makes it difficult for all of us is that we don't know how much you know about the guitar. So please excuse me if I sound like I'm talking down to you - it's not my intention to do so.

We know that the /A, /F and /G refer to the notes in the bass. So do you know where those notes ARE? The A, of course, is the 5th string played open (I'm assuming standard tuning here). The other two notes are found on the 6th string. Played open that string is an E. At first fret you get an F, at third fret a G.

Now if you know how to finger the Dsus all you need to do is add in those bass notes. Remembering, of course, that you don't have to finger anything extra for the Dsus/A, you just have to be sure to play that open 5th string. The 4th string will always be open, the 1st to 3rd will be fretted at the same positions for all these chords, though you may chose to vary which fingers you use on which string in order to free up a finger for that bass note. If you used your thumb to fret the 6th string at the first fret you might not have to change the fingering on the first three strings at all.

This may be a little work - physical more than theoretical - but once you have understood it and can play it then you are on the way to being able to put moving bass lines into your playing.