Bass & Creativity: Suspended Chords & Modes, Part 1
This lesson focuses on the beautiful colors made through suspended voicings. We’ll cover the basics of sus4 & sus2 chords and their most common use. Through improvisation, we explore how to unfold whole modes from them and how to use them through melodic playing and composition.
Like always, we keep the bass at the center of the music, using the piano to highlight colors.
Here’s a breakdown of what we’ll cover in the video below:
- 0:13 – Intro & mechanics of suspended chords
- 0:54 – From E7sus4 to the Mixolydian mode
- 2:00 – Modulating with the 7sus4 color : E G E C Bb
- 3:56 – Other modes from a suspended voicing
- 4:23 – Unfolding Dsus4 to D Phrygian
- 7:12 – From Asus4 to A mixolydian b6 mode
- 8:44 – Composing chord progressions
- 9:28 – Final progression Dsus Fsus Dsus Fsus Dsus Bbsus Gsus
