The major seventh ♯5 sus4 chord is an unusual hybrid: it keeps the suspended fourth color (no major third in the basic sus sense), adds a major seventh against the root, and replaces the perfect fifth with an augmented fifth. The result is simultaneously open (sus), bright/tense (♯5), and stable-in-register (major seventh color) in a way that does not behave like a textbook dominant chord. Treat it as a modern color chord for special moments rather than a default harmonic building block.
Construction
Conceptual stack: 1-4-♯5-7 (spelling and voicing choices vary by instrument). Because the symbol stacks sus4 with ♯5 and major seventh, clarity comes from register: keep the sus fourth and seventh readable and avoid cramming every implied extension into one octave.
Usage
Most common in fusion, modern jazz, and cinematic pop as a passing or pedal color where harmony is meant to sound sophisticated and slightly uncanny. It can also appear in reharmonizations where a composer wants sus motion without a plain triad sound.
Examples
- Fusion progressions with static bass and shifting upper structures
- Film cues that need “bright but not happy triad” ambiguity
- Modern jazz voicings used as brief pivot sonorities
Play
Prioritize voice leading clarity over literal completeness: spread tones, omit doublings, and let the bass define the root strongly. If the chord fights the melody, simplify inner voices before removing the characteristic ♯5 or sus4.
Ear-training cues
Listen for sus4 openness combined with a major-seven quality and a widened fifth—a rare three-way fingerprint.
