Sultans of Swing - A7 Sus4 arpeggio?

Arpeggios
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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:

  1. Descending D Major scale minus the major 6th, or,
  2. 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

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A post was merged into an existing topic: Sultans of Swing [2/4] by Dire Straits Lesson

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