Suspended & power
D♭ dominant 7th suspended 4th chord
A dominant 7th with a suspended 4th — common in funk, soul and gospel.
- Notes
- D♭G♭A♭C♭
- Formula
- 145♭7
- Built from
- root · perfect 4th · perfect 5th · minor 7th
How to play D♭7sus4
About the D♭ dominant 7th suspended 4th chord
Playing it
On guitar, D♭7sus4 has an open-position shape, x44402, using four fingers alongside the open strings. Don’t strum the low E string.
On piano, D♭7sus4 has three black keys (D♭, G♭ and A♭) and one white key.
On ukulele the usual D♭7sus4 shape is 1122, using four fingers.
Related chords
Move a single note and D♭7sus4 becomes a different chord: lower G♭ to F for D♭7, swap G♭ for F♭ for D♭m7 and drop the C♭ for D♭sus4.
Where you’ll hear it
Notice the C♭ in D♭7sus4 (D♭ G♭ A♭ C♭): each note of the chord takes its own letter (D–G–A–C), so the minor 7th has to be written C♭ rather than B — the same key on a piano, spelled to fit the chord.
