# E♭ Suspended 4th piano chord (E♭sus4)

E♭sus4 contains E♭, A♭ and B♭. The third replaced by the fourth. Every note is a black key.

- Canonical page: https://piano.org/chords/suspended-4th/e-flat/
- Entity: chord:sus4:e-flat
- Notes: E♭ A♭ B♭
- Formula: 1 4 5
- Intervals from root: P1, P4, P5
- Interval stack (semitones): 5 2
- Also written: E♭sus4, Ebsus4, E♭ suspended 4th
- Parameters: A440, 12-TET, 165 mm octave, spans centre to centre

## Construction

| Degree | Note | Interval from root | Semitones |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | E♭ | Perfect unison | 0 |
| 4 | A♭ | Perfect fourth | 5 |
| 5 | B♭ | Perfect fifth | 7 |

## Fingering

Rest your right hand over the notes with finger 1 on E♭, finger 3 on A♭, finger 5 on B♭. The left hand mirrors it.
Right hand 1-3-5, left hand 5-3-1. Source: piano.org fingering method v1.

## Inversions

| Position | Bass | Notes in order | Figured bass | Span |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Root position | E♭ | E♭3 A♭3 B♭3 | 5/3 | 7 st, 96 mm |
| First inversion (E♭sus4/A♭) | A♭ | A♭3 B♭3 E♭4 | 6/3 | 7 st, 96 mm |
| Second inversion (E♭sus4/B♭) | B♭ | B♭3 E♭4 A♭4 | 6/4 | 10 st, 138 mm |

## Voicings (5)

| Voicing | Notes | Span | Relation | Omits or adds |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Close, root position | E♭3 A♭3 B♭3 | 7 st, 96 mm | identical | none |
| Close, first inversion | A♭3 B♭3 E♭4 | 7 st, 96 mm | identical | none |
| Close, second inversion | B♭3 E♭4 A♭4 | 10 st, 138 mm | identical | none |
| Open, fifth on top | E♭2 B♭2 A♭3 | 17 st, 234 mm | identical | none |
| Root and third only | E♭3 A♭3 | 5 st, 69 mm | subset | omits B♭ |

## One-edit neighbors

| Becomes | Edit | Changes | Common tones |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| E♭7sus4 | 1 4 5 ♭7 | adds D♭ | 3 |
| E♭ | 1 3 5 | A♭ becomes G | 2 |
| E♭m | 1 ♭3 5 | A♭ becomes G♭ | 2 |
| E♭sus2 | 1 2 5 | A♭ becomes F | 2 |
| E♭maj7 | 1 3 5 7 | A♭ becomes G, D | 2 |
| E♭7 | 1 3 5 ♭7 | A♭ becomes G, D♭ | 2 |
| E♭m7 | 1 ♭3 5 ♭7 | A♭ becomes G♭, D♭ | 2 |
| E♭mMaj7 | 1 ♭3 5 7 | A♭ becomes G♭, D | 2 |
| E♭6 | 1 3 5 6 | A♭ becomes G, C | 2 |
| E♭m6 | 1 ♭3 5 6 | A♭ becomes G♭, C | 2 |
| E♭add9 | 1 3 5 9 | A♭ becomes G, F | 2 |
| E♭dim | 1 ♭3 ♭5 | A♭, B♭ becomes G♭, B♭♭ | 1 |

## Set theory

- Absolute pitch classes: {3, 8, 10}
- Relative pitch classes: [0, 5, 7]
- Normal order: [8, 10, 3]
- Prime form: (027)
- Forte number: 3-9
- Interval vector: <010020>

## Frequencies (close root position)

| Note | MIDI | Frequency |
| --- | --- | --- |
| E♭3 | 51 | 155.56 Hz |
| A♭3 | 56 | 207.65 Hz |
| B♭3 | 58 | 233.08 Hz |

## Questions and answers

### What notes are in E♭sus4?

E♭sus4 contains E♭, A♭ and B♭. The formula is 1, 4, 5.

### How do you play E♭sus4 on piano?

Play E♭, A♭ and B♭ together. Right hand fingers 1, 3, 5; left hand 5, 3, 1. Every note is a black key.

### What are the inversions of E♭sus4?

3 positions: root position E♭ A♭ B♭, E♭sus4/A♭, E♭sus4/B♭.

### What is the difference between E♭sus4 and E♭7sus4?

Adds D♭. 3 of the notes are shared.

### What is an easy E♭sus4 for small hands?

The root and third only voicing, E♭3 A♭3, spans 5 semitones or about 69 mm.

### What are the frequencies of E♭sus4?

From E♭3 at A440 in 12-TET: 155.56, 207.65, 233.08 Hz.

### What is the set class of E♭sus4?

Prime form (027), Forte 3-9, interval vector &lt;010020&gt;.

### How do I transpose E♭sus4 to another key?

Keep the 1, 4, 5 formula on the new root. Csus4 is C, F, G; C♯sus4 is C♯, F♯, G♯.

### Is D♯sus4 the same as E♭sus4?

Enharmonically yes: the same piano keys and the same sound, spelled differently.

## Provenance

Every derived value above is computed by the piano.org theory kernel from the root, the quality and the stated parameters. Nothing is hand-entered per chord.

Machine record: https://piano.org/api/knowledge/v1/entities/chord:sus4:e-flat
Last reviewed: 2026-08-12