A♭sus4

A♭1D♭4E♭5

The third replaced by the fourth, which leans on the third it is standing in for.

Written the other way round it is G♯sus4 — the same twelve keys on a piano, a different piece of notation.

on guitar on piano the scale

Every fingering that fits a hand

Fig. 2

1344

moderate

Fig. 3

x896

easy

What is true of it

A♭sus4 is A♭, D♭ and E♭ — 1, 4 and 5 counted from A♭.

These are also the notes of D♭sus2/A♭ and C♯sus2/A♭. Which name is right depends on what is underneath and what came before — the notes alone do not decide.

The easiest of the 2 fingerings below is 1344: 4 fingers, held at the 1st fret.

None of them uses an open string, so this chord moves up the neck unchanged — the same shape 1 fret higher is the chord a semitone above.

Where its notes are on the neck

Fig. 4 — first 12 frets

The brass dots are A♭, the root. Everything else is a chord tone with its degree printed in it.

With a different note underneath

first inversion

A♭sus4/D♭

6344

second inversion

A♭sus4/E♭

x344

An inversion is the same chord with a different note lowest. The name changes to a slash name because the bass is what a listener hears as the foundation.

A♭ in other shapes

A♭sus2suspended second A♭7sus4dominant seventh suspended fourth A♭major A♭mminor A♭dimdiminished

Csus4 C♯sus4 D♭sus4 Dsus4 D♯sus4 E♭sus4 Esus4 Fsus4 all 374