Learn to play Sultans of Swing [2/4] by Dire Straits on JustinGuitar!
View the full lesson at Sultans of Swing [2/4] by Dire Straits | JustinGuitar
There’s no tabs on the lesson. Only verse and chords
The full TAB is on part 1 for this song.
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One of my all time favourites songs.An absolutely cracking tune, that is on my dreamers list. Got some of the rhythm parts down OK to a reasonable level , but its all the cool stuff I’m eventually after. Will keep chippin away…
Good Morning!
I want some help confirming that I’m understanding something. In Justin’s older tutorial on Sultans of Swing [lesson 2 of 4 at 6min 09sec mark] he shows what could be:
- Descending D Major scale minus the major 6th, or,
- A7 Sus4 arpeggio, using notes D (the sus4), C#, A, G (dom 7), and E,
However he resolves to an E at the end, which sounds nice and right. But it also sounds nice and right to resolve to the A (root). Because there is a Amaj chord in the song, as well as A7, it makes sense that we call it A7 sus4 arpeggio. And of course, the notes are correct for A7 Sus4.
How should I view this lick? Is it theoretically possible to have an A7sus4 arpeggio? I mean, - why not, right?
So the next question - if it resolves on the E, as Justin shows, then what is it? A descending D major scale that resolves on the major 2nd??? Or if it is A7sus4, then it simply resolves on the E (perfect 5)? Or is it some other triad arpeggio? My brain is twisted at this point, which is why I’m reaching out.
I guess the name doesn’t really matter - but since I’m trying to learn theory, I want to make sure I’m thinking about it correctly and understanding.
Thanks y’all!
Mike from Athens, GA, USA
@motoloco
Michael
The first four notes outline a Dsus4 chord - D, C#, A, E
That is repeated almost verbatim apart from the insertion of the G note between A and E - D, C#, A, G, E.
You can call it an arpeggio like you have.
Or you could call it a D major scale lick that targets chord tones of the underlying A chord.
Both work.
Technically a Dsus4 chord has no C#(the 3rd)
That’s why I get confused - you can see it a couple of ways. D major scale lick, or, A7 Sus4. @Richard_close2u - the Dsus4 that you show confuses me because of the C# that isn’t present in a Dsus4, but is present in D major scale.
It’s like a Dsus4 has same notes as a Gsus2: D, G, A. It all depends on the context. Makes my head hurt… but good exercise.
In any case - I’m just now getting into arpeggios, and I hadn’t yet considered the idea of a non-major/minor/7th etc arpeggio. The idea of making a 7th, sus4 arpeggio kind of freaked me out :).
I know.
I’m trying to explain it back in the way that Michael asked. I am presuming he is seeing that the first notes match the shape of a D-shape triad - first held as a sus4 then as a major.
This move is used in many places … Comfortably Numb … Jessica … and others.
Personally, I would describe it in scale terms, not arpeggio terms. Also knowing it is about chord tones within.
@Richard_close2u - yes I did see it as a Dshape Achord at very first. Then realized it was a D Major scale – not an A major chord. Then I literally stumbled into the idea of an A7Sus4 arpeggio. I like knowing that I can view it in either scale terms (which totally makes sense to me), or that it is also an arpeggio. As I move forward learning, recognition of the versatility of seeing things more than one way is helpful.
I appreciate you all chiming in on this.
Okay - we should be technically correct.
Viewed as an arpeggio it is an A7 chord with the 4th scale degree added (which we term as 11 due to the presence of the 3rd scale degree) so it is an A11 arpeggio no 9th.
1, 3, 5, b7, 11
Yikes. I’m going to have to crunch on that one for a bit – and I surely will. Thank you.
A11 — got it!!! Woohoo.
Took me a minute. It’s because it includes all the intervals, 1, 3, 5 and b7 - then the sus4, which is actually now an 11 because we included the 3).
I can’t wait for all this stuff to just flow smoothly in my brain… a lot to remember.
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