Sus and Add chords

• Mar 15, 2020 - 21:56

When do I use parentheses to show sus and add chords? For example, is it Csus4 or C(sus4)? Is it G(add2) or Gadd2 ? Thanks


Comments

I'm not even close to educated on this but I went and watched a few videos and looked at a few images and I didn't find many people using parentheses. I'm assuming you wouldn't use the parentheses, though it apparently doesn't actually matter.

Something else I found is that people put parentheses around any other dissonances you add to the chord if there is already a second or fourth. (obviously excluding sevenths) For example, you might have a Bbsus4 chord, but add a major sixth and it becomes Bbsus4(6). If you also added a major seventh, it would be Bbmaj7sus4(6), though people might put parentheses around the sus4 if there is a seventh, making it Bbmaj7(sus4)(6).

Overall, I wouldn't put parentheses around the sus or add in most cases, but I'm still very uneducated with music and this is what I got from just a few youtube videos so don't take my word for it.

Generally, parents are almost never needed except when lack of them would cause people to not be able to to understand. For example, Gadd2 is perfectly clear, we all know G is the root and that leaves add2. But some people like to out parentheses in anyhow. Up to you, really, but I don't recommend it. The only ones I ever use as Cmi(ma7) because otherwise it looks like "mima".

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