B♭7sus4

B♭1E♭4F5A♭♭7

A dominant seventh with the fourth standing in for the third.

Written the other way round it is A♯7sus4 — 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

3546

hard

Fig. 3

334x

moderate · barre · no 5

Fig. 4

3341

hard · no 5

Fig. 5

3346

moderate · barre · no 5

Fig. 6

xabb

easy · no 5

What is true of it

B♭7sus4 is B♭, E♭, F and A♭ — 1, 4, 5 and b7 counted from B♭.

On an instrument that cannot reach all 4, the 5 goes first, in that order.

The easiest of the 5 fingerings below is 3546: 4 fingers, held at the 3rd 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.

2 of the 5 need a barre.

Where its notes are on the neck

Fig. 7 — first 12 frets

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

With a different note underneath

first inversion

B♭7sus4/E♭

8868

second inversion

B♭7sus4/F

aabb

third inversion

B♭7sus4/A♭

1311

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.

B♭ in other shapes

B♭sus2suspended second B♭sus4suspended fourth B♭major B♭mminor B♭dimdiminished

C7sus4 C♯7sus4 D♭7sus4 D7sus4 D♯7sus4 E♭7sus4 E7sus4 F7sus4 all 374