The Steel Guitar Forum

Hi folks,

I dig the sound of the IV chord with the V's root in the bass as a sub for the V chord in a V-I resolution.

Should that be considered a V9sus4?

It has a very open, 'poppy' sound.

Have I been listening to my old Wings albums too much?

-GV

You could think of it as another "4th structure" inversion. If it was an F chord with a G in the base, then the G-C-F is the 4th chord, the A is "color".

Way pre-dates Wings... it's the 3rd chord in the Beach Boys' "Don't Worry Baby."

I used to consider it a dominant 11th chord, but now agree it's a V9sus4.

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Herb's Steel Guitar Pages
Texas Steel Guitar Association

In practice, you would see G11, G9sus4, Dm7/G, and play them all the same. And F/G is almost the same but with no D note, which makes very little difference.

If you don't sound the B or the D, how can it be a G anything? I'd call it F/G.

On standard guitar there's a common voicing that everybody would first associate with the designation F/G:

G bass note on 6th string, under a 1-3-5 non-inverted F major triad. <FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Jeff A. Smith on 22 September 2003 at 08:24 PM.]</p></FONT>

Here in Nashville most everyone calls that a four over five.

Bobby Lee- I think it has very much to do with G although not a straight up G triad, obviously... although F/G is correct, your ear perceives the voicing from the root up, which makes is sound like a G7 sus 4 type chord, especially in a V to I progression. You don't hear "F" tonality-wise as much as you hear G. Of course, when you solo over that one, you can draw from the F triad like crazy...

This type of chord was all over the place in mid 70's fusion/pop like Steely Dan, the Crusaders, Lee Ritenour/Larry Carlton etc.

I've always thought of that sound as an 'eleventh' - that's what I call it, even though we don't always play all the notes that constitute the full chord.

Can't play James Taylor's stuff without it!

RR

John McCann is correct. It may not have the botes of a G triad, but the EAR perceives it as a G suspended 4.

BTW, John is a VERY hot guitar and mandolin player. He sent me a tape a few years ago that blew me away.

It's a V chord harmonically. Of course, practically, it's all the above

Over here it's known as a Four over Five.
Baz